Tatjana Zdanoka is a Latvian politician who has served in public office for more than a decade. Reports from international investigative teams, including Re:Baltica and The Insider, indicate that emails attributed to him reveal long standing contact with individuals tied to the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation. Zdanoka acknowledges the authenticity of these messages as part of the documented exchanges.
Over the years, Zdanoka represented Latvia in the European Parliament as a member affiliated with the Union of Latvians in the European Parliament. Investigative materials describe correspondence between 2004 and 2013 and reference a contact identified by researchers as connected to Russian intelligence. While the politician disputes any direct link between this contact and operational Russian intelligence networks, the material suggests sustained communication that drew scrutiny from observers.
Zdanoka has taken part in high level visits tied to European matters. In 2017, he joined a delegation of MEPs that visited a penal facility in Spain, accompanying figures who became prominent through the Catalan regional process. Other attendees included lawmakers from multiple political groups within the Parliament. Four years later, after certain political outcomes had shifted, Zdanoka and other European figures resumed discussions in the Belgian capital as part of ongoing dialogue about regional stability and the role of external actors in European politics.
Investigations note that Zdanoka reported on activities seen as favorable to Russian interests. A named contact, described as an FSB operative stationed at the organization’s headquarters in Saint Petersburg, is identified as a person who maintained regular contact with Zdanoka over several years. Additional references point to a senior FSB official with a lengthy career who was said to be connected to similar efforts in the Baltic region since the 1990s. The narrative portrays a pattern of sustained engagement between Zdanoka and individuals linked to Russian security services.
According to the investigative material, the entrepreneur and former youth contact described the alleged FSB associate as someone from the early period of their life with whom personal friendship once existed while they were developing their skills in winter sports in the former Soviet territories. Meetings reportedly occurred in Brussels and other locations, and at times requests were made for cultural items associated with Saint Petersburg as well as support for projects seen as pro Russian. There are claims about assistance related to acquiring materials for commemorative displays tied to historical symbols used in the Russian past.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the imagery connected to these symbols and the broader questions about Moscow’s influence in neighboring regions have attracted renewed attention. The reported activities include attendance at events and political sessions that touched on the situation of Russians living within the Baltic states, among other responsibilities attributed to these exchanges.
Professional observers in Latvia have long noted that the figure referenced in these reports carries a history of involvement with political and security networks tied to Russian interests. The career path spanning the late 1980s through Latvia’s independence period has been cited in assessments of influence and alignment with Russian goals as perceived by various analysts and scholars.
Born in Riga in 1950, Zdanoka pursued studies in mathematics and was connected to the period when the Communist Party of the Soviet Union played a substantial role in regional politics. He describes his support for Russian interests during the late Soviet era and early post independence years, a timeline that he mentions on his European Parliament page. He later naturalized as a citizen of Latvia in 1996 and is fluent in Russian, Latvian, English, and French.