Other events in Baltic States

A Latvian national who had joined the Islamic State terrorist group, died in Syria, said Latvian Security Police chief Normunds Mezviets in an interview with commercial LNT channel on March 7^th, cites LETA/BNS.

He said that a criminal procedure has been launched on the case, but he did not disclose any further details. Mezviets said that the man had been an active member of the Latvian Muslim community and had moved to Syria together with his wife and a small child.

In Mezviets' words, the criminal probes for joining the Islamic State have been launched against three people, also against Olegs Petrovs and another person.

The head of the Security Police admitted that the Latvian Muslim community has been affected by radicalization trends, even though the local leaders deny that. "These cases, however, prove that our assessment had been objective," said Mezviets.

At the same time, there are no reasons to believe that systematic recruiting is under way in Latvia.