Tatjana Ždanoka

Tatjana Ždanoka^[1] (Russian: Татья́на Арка́дьевна Ждано́к, Tatyana Arkadyevna Zhdanok; born 8 May 1950) is a Latvian politician and a Member of the European Parliament. She is co-chairwoman of the Latvian Russian Union and its predecessor parties (Equal Rights and For Human Rights in a United Latvia) since 1993. In 2024 she was accused of being a Russian intelligence agent.^[2][3][4]

Tatjana Ždanoka MEP
Ždanoka in 2012
Member of the European Parliament
Incumbent
Assumed office 2 July 2019
Constituency	Latvia
In office 20 July 2004 – 4 March 2018
Constituency	Latvia
Member of the Supreme Council of Latvia
In office 3 May 1990 – 6 July 1993
Personal details
Born	Tatjana Hesina (1950-05-08) 8 May 1950 (age 73) Riga, Latvian SSR, Soviet Union (now Latvia)
Citizenship	USSR (1950–1991) Stateless (1991–1996) Latvia (since 1996)
Political party	LKS (2014–present)
Other political affiliations	LKP (1971–1991) ER (1993–2007) ForHRUL (2007–2014)
Spouse	Aleksandr Zhdanok ​ ​ (m. 1975; div. 1988)​
Alma mater	Latvian State University
Occupation	Politician • Mathematician
Degree	Doctor of mathematics
Awards

From 1988 to 1989 she was one of the leaders of the Interfront, a political front organization opposing Latvia's independence from the Soviet Union and rapid market reforms. She remained active in the Communist Party of Latvia after January 1991, when the party leadership called for a coup against the government of the Latvian SSR (in opposition to a restoration of independence). In 1997, Ždanoka was elected to Riga municipal council, but was deprived of the mandate in the Council in 1999 and is prohibited from further nomination for election to the Latvian Parliament or local councils under Latvian law due to her former allegiance with the Communist Party after January 1991. Together with Alfrēds Rubiks, she is in the peculiar position of being restricted to European Parliament elections only.^[5] Government documents from 2024 linked her to the Russian FSB.^[2][6]

Biography

Tatyana Khesin was born in 1950 in Riga in the family of Soviet navy officer Arkady Khesin and mathematics teacher Tamara Ivanovna, and is of mixed Latvian Jewish-Russian origin. Much of Ždanoka's paternal family was killed by the Latvian Auxiliary Police in 1941 during the Holocaust.^[7] In 1975, she married Aleksandr Zhdanok, whom she divorced in the late 1980s.

In 1972, Ždanoka graduated from the Latvian State University with a degree in mathematics and started teaching mathematics at the university until 1990. In 1980, she gained the Candidate of Sciences degree in physics and mathematics and in 1992 a Doctor of Sciences degree in mathematics, both from the Latvian State University.^[8]

After the restoration of the independence of Latvia, Ždanoka applied for Latvian citizenship through naturalisation but was denied since her paternal grandmother had moved to St. Peterburg before World War I and not returned to Latvia before 1940. In 1996, after a lengthy legal battle Ždanoka finally acquired Latvian citizenship, blaming her difficulties on alleged anti-Semitism.^[9]

Political career

Latvian politics (1988–2004)

Ždanoka became politically active in the late 1980s during the perestroika, first as a member of the Popular Front, then as one of the leaders of the Interfront, a political organization opposing Latvia's independence from the Soviet Union. In 1989, she was elected to the Riga City Council, and in 1990, to the Supreme Soviet of the Latvian SSR. From 1971 to 1991 Ždanoka was also a member of the Communist Party of Latvia,^[8] but maintains she was "not part of the party hierarchy."^[9]

From 1995 till 2004 Ždanoka was co-chairwoman of the Latvian Human Rights Committee (a member of FIDH).^[10] She has also been one of the leaders of Equal Rights since it foundation in 1993 and of the For Human Rights in United Latvia alliance.^[11]

In 1999, Ždanoka was banned from running for the Latvian parliament Saeima and deprived of her seat on Riga City Council, because she had participated in two seats of the Communist Party's Audit Committee after the party leadership called for a coup against the elected government of the Latvian SSR in January 1991.^[8] Subsequently, she sued Latvia in the European Court of Human Rights.^[8] Ždanoka argued that the Communist Party was still legal until September 1991 and she had remained because she believed the Communist Party would be part of the democratic, multi-party system and "considered it dishonest to leave one's party because of hard times."^[9]

Member of European parliament (2004–2018)

With the court case pending, the Latvian parliament decided not to impose restrictions on former members of the Communist Party in the 2004 European Parliament election. Ždanoka was elected to the European Parliament in June 2004 and won the court case a few days later with a margin of 5-2.^[12] Latvia appealed the decision to the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights on the grounds that Latvia's emergence from totalitarian rule brought about by the occupation of Latvia had not been sufficiently taken into account, and on March 16, 2006, the court ruled 13-4 that Ždanoka's rights had not been violated.^[13]

In 2004, she ran successfully for MEP as a candidate of the largest Russian political bloc in Latvia^[11] becoming a member of the Greens–European Free Alliance fraction in the European Parliament.^[14] In 2005, Ždanoka became one of the founders of the EU Russian-Speakers' Alliance.^[15] She also won a seat in 2009.^[5]

On 11 March 2014, Ždanoka and her party organized a rally at the European Commission Representation in Riga in support of the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, participated by about 200 people.^[16] In May, Ždanoka proposed European Council to classify Ukrainian political bloc Right Sector as a terrorist organization.^[17] In response, Ukrainian Congress of Latvia petitioned Ministry of Justice of Latvia to declare the political activities of Ždanoka and her party as anti-constitutional.^[18]

A submission was made by another Latvian MEP, Kārlis Šadurskis, to the Latvian state prosecutor to investigate Ždanoka for undermining the Latvian state in her support for Russia. In his submission, Šadurskis pointed to her participation at events organised by "Essence of Time" that advocates the restoration of the USSR.^[19] The application of Šadurskis was rejected by Security Police who did not find a crime in Ždanoka's actions.^[20]

In 2016, Ždanoka voted against the European Parliament resolution of 23 November that condemned the use of disinformation and propaganda by Russia and Islamist terrorist organisations and called for strengthening EU's "strategic communication" task force, as well as investing more in awareness raising, education, online and local media, investigative journalism and information literacy.^[21] Prior to the vote she distributed a letter to other MEPs, saying that the resolution crosses "all red lines" and that Russia's state-sponsored news and information channels are no different to Western media that exhibit "double standards", recommending them to watch Russia Today and form their own opinion of the channel.^[22]

Return to Latvian politics (2018–2019)

In January 2018 Ždanoka left European Parliament and returned to Latvian politics with the intention of running for 2018 Latvian parliamentary election in October.^[23] She was named Latvian Russian Union's number 1 candidate for Vidzeme Region, but was removed from the list of candidates by the Latvia's Central Election Commission on the same basis that barred her from running in 1999.^[24][25] Ždanoka contested it in the Administrative District Court, but the court upheld the decision made by the Central Election Commission.^[26][27] Ždanoka applied to the European Court of Human Rights, which has communicated her application to the Latvian government in 2021.^[28]

Member of European parliament (from 2019)

In the 2019 European Parliament election her party received 6.24% of the votes, which gave it one seat at the European Parliament that, again, was filled by Ždanoka who personally received 18,098 plusses and was crossed out 739 times.^[29] She started serving as vice-chairperson in the Petitions Committee and replacement member in the Employment and Public Affairs Committee and named youth and pre-pension employment, adoption of benefits for young families and equalization of social rights in the European Union as her priorities.^[30]

On 2 March 2022, she was one of 13 MEPs who voted against condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine.^[31] For this she was eventually forced to leave the European Greens–European Free Alliance group.^[32][33] On 13 May, Ždanoka and six other people were detained in the Riga Town Hall Square [lv] at an unauthorized protest against the demolition of the Monument to the Liberators of Soviet Latvia and Riga from the German Fascist Invaders.^[34]

On 15 September 2022, she was one of 16 MEPs who voted against condemning President Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua for human rights violations, in particular the arrest of Bishop Rolando Álvarez.^[35][36]

Views

Ždanoka has described herself as a social democrat "combining the good parts of socialism and capitalism". During perestroika, she advocated for economic reform within the Soviet Union and called the pro-independence Popular Front of Latvia "dangerously nationalistic".^[9] For a long time, she opposed the accession of Latvia to the European Union believing that "complete acceptance of the EU's rules would lead to the destruction of our industry and agriculture" and that Latvia should be a "financial bridge between the East and the West" but gave up her Euroscepticism after attending the 2000 New European Left Forum in Sweden. Ždanoka still continues opposing NATO and advocates for the Baltic region to retain its "historical closeness to Russia" as a way to avoid the "destruction of Russia and the whole region".^[9]

Ždanoka said that during the presidency of Boris Yeltsin she was "ashamed to admit" she was Russian, but "was no longer embarrassed for Russia and its leadership" when Vladimir Putin became president, although still critical of his state capitalism and corruption.^[14] She supports the recognition of Russian as an official language in Latvia and European Union, pointing to the 9 million EU citizens who are native Russian speakers in the Baltic states and Southeast Europe.^[37]

Criticism

In 2020, Ždanoka, alongside her party members Miroslav Mitrofanov and Andrejs Mamikins, was included in the European Platform for Democratic Elections database of "biased observers" for backing disputed elections in Russia and separatist areas in Ukraine.^[38]

On March 5, 2019 State Security Service (SSS) launched a criminal procedure over incitement to ethnic hatred or discord for Ždanoka's remarks at a discussion organized by her at the European Parliament, where she likened the situation of ethnic Russians and Russian speakers in Latvia to Jews prior the World War II.^[39][40] The case was terminated by the SSS in 2020, for absence of any crime in Ždanoka's remarks.^[41]

Ždanoka's participation in the controversial 2014 Crimean referendum as an "international observer" in a trip paid by the European Union^[42] and her remarks in support of it were criticised by the president of the European Parliament Martin Schulz as "completely contradictory to the position of the European Parliament and the EU." Ždanoka responded by pointing out that Schulz is an MEP "just like she is", and that only her voters can tell her what to do.^[43][44] Co-chairwoman of the Greens/European Free Alliance Rebecca Harms called Ždanoka's actions and statements as "totally unacceptable" and "in complete and direct opposition with the very clear position the Greens/EFA group has taken since the outset on this issue", calling the European Free Alliance to expel Ždanoka from its ranks. Ždanoka's actions were also condemned by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia Edgars Rinkēvičs, with Ministry's press secretary Kārlis Eihenbaums pointing out that Ždanoka did not to represent Latvia nor the EU, as she did not have any official authorization from either.^[45]

In 2024, a report from an investigative journalism website called The Insider accused Ždanoka of being a spy for Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) since at least 2004.^[46][47][48]

References

1. "Ždanoka Tatjana, LRU co-chairwoman". Latvian Russian Union. 24 February 2015. Retrieved 22 August 2018.
2. Grozev, Christo; Weiss, Michael; Dobrokhotov, Roman (2024-01-29). "Exclusive: Latvian Member of European Parliament is an agent of Russian intelligence, leaked emails confirm". The Insider. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
3. "Latvian MEP is Russian intelligence agent – investigation". lrt.lt. 2024-01-29. Retrieved 2024-03-30.
4. Service, s Russian (2024-01-29). "Latvian Member Of European Parliament Reportedly Leaked Information To Russian Intelligence". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Retrieved 2024-03-30.
5. Näf, Kaspar (June 11, 2009). "The European elections strengthened Russians of Latvian" (in Estonian). Postimees. Retrieved June 11, 2009.
6. Tjoflot, Eirin (2024-01-31). "EU-politikar var russisk agent". NRK (in Norwegian Nynorsk). Retrieved 2024-02-10.
7. Lieven, Anatol. The Baltic Revolution: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the Path to Independence. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 1994. ISBN 0-300-06078-5, ISBN 978-0-300-06078-2. p. 442.
8. "Tatyana Zhdanok". Russians of Latvia. Institute of the Russian heritage of Latvia. Retrieved August 22, 2018.
9. Coleman, Nick (May 17, 2001). "Most stubborn survivor speaks out". The Baltic Times. Retrieved April 8, 2005.
10. "Tatjana ŽDANOKA". European Parliament. Retrieved August 22, 2018.
11. Socor, Vladimir (May 23, 2004). "Zhdanoka Candidacy Polarizes Latvian Election". Eurasia Daily Monitor. 1 (16). Jamestown Foundation. Retrieved April 8, 2005.
12. Eglitis, Aaron (July 1, 2004). "Zdanoka wins case in human rights court". The Baltic Times. Retrieved April 8, 2005.
13. ECtHR Grand Chamber judgment in Ždanoka v. Latvia para. 135
14. Peach, Gary (28 March 2012). "Eastern outsider". Politico. Retrieved 19 March 2014.
15. Sergeeva, Natalya (February 10, 2006). "Website of Russian Alliance presented" (in Russian). Delfi. Retrieved February 23, 2006.
16. "Zdanoka promotes Soviet manifesto". The Baltic Times. March 19, 2014. Retrieved August 22, 2018.
17. "European Parliament Mulls Putting Right Sector on Terrorism List". Novinite. May 7, 2014. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
18. "Ukrainian community deeply worried". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. 29 August 2014. Retrieved 4 January 2015.
19. "Security Police investigates Latvian Pro-Kremlin MEP". Baltic News Network. April 3, 2014. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
20. "No criminal charges to be filed against Zdanoka". The Baltic Times. March 29, 2014. Retrieved August 22, 2018.
21. "UPDATED: Latvia's MEPs split on Russian propaganda threat". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. November 25, 2016. Retrieved August 22, 2018.
22. "Zdanoka leaps to the defense of Russia Today". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. November 25, 2016. Retrieved August 22, 2018.
23. "Ždanoka quits Brussels to run Saeima campaign for party". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. January 15, 2018. Retrieved February 18, 2018.
24. "Russian Union leader Ždanoka nixed from Saeima elections". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. 21 August 2018. Retrieved 22 August 2018.
25. "Latvia's Russian Union leader Zdanoka barred from running in Saeima elections". The Baltic Times. 30 August 2018. Retrieved 22 August 2018.
26. "No Saeima election run for Ždanoka". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. LETA. 4 September 2018. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
27. "Court upholds Central Election Commission's decision banning Zdanoka from running in Saeima elections". The Baltic Times. September 4, 2018. Retrieved September 26, 2018.
28. Ždanoka v. Latvia European Court of Human Rights
29. "European Parliament election results announced in Latvia". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. 27 May 2019. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
30. "Latvian MEPs explain their priorities in European Parliament committees". Baltic News Network. 23 September 2019. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
31. "Latvian MEP refuses to condemn Russian invasion of Ukraine". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. 2 March 2022. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
32. Konohovs, Artjoms (5 April 2022). "Ždanoka out in the cold in European Parliament". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
33. "Tatyana Zhdanok kicked from MEP group for not condemning Russian aggression". Baltic News Network. April 5, 2022. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
34. Zvirbulis, Ģirts; Feldmanis, Kristaps (13 May 2022). "MEP detained at unauthorized protest in Rīga". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
35. "European Parliament condemns growing repression of Catholic Church in Nicaragua, calls for release of bishop".
36. "Nicaragua, in particular the arrest of the bishop Rolando Álvarez" (PDF).
37. Rettman, Andrew (February 15, 2012). "Latvia vote poses question on Russian as EU language". EUobserver. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
38. "Five Latvian politicians named as 'politically biased election observers'". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. July 3, 2020. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
39. "Security Service starts case over Ždanoka's remarks in EP discussion". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. LETA. March 6, 2019. Retrieved March 10, 2019.
40. "State Security Service starts criminal procedure over Zdanoka's remarks in European Parliament discussion". The Baltic Times. March 6, 2019. Retrieved March 10, 2019.
41. СГБ закрыл дело против Жданок: состав преступления в ее высказываниях не обнаружен DELFI
42. Rozenberga, Māra (November 24, 2015). "MEP's visit to Crimea paid for by European Parliament". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. Retrieved August 22, 2018.
43. "EP President scolds Soviet relic for Crimea posture". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. September 26, 2014. Retrieved August 22, 2018.
44. "Soviet relic Zdanoka reprimanded by EP President Schulz". The Baltic Times. September 29, 2014. Retrieved August 22, 2018.
45. "Zdanoka's actions 'unacceptable,' says Harms". The Baltic Times. September 30, 2014. Retrieved August 22, 2018.
46. "Exclusive: Latvian Member of European Parliament is an agent of Russian intelligence, leaked emails confirm".
47. "New investigation alleges Latvian member of European Parliament has secretly worked for Russian FSB for 20 years".
48. O’Leary, Naomi (29 January 2024). "Latvian MEP linked to Wallace and Daly accused of working with Russian intelligence". Irish Times. Retrieved 29 January 2024.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tatjana Ždanoka.

• Tatjana Ždanoka in the European Parliament
• by A. Vysotskaya
• Press release of ECHR on judgement in case Ždanoka vs. Latvia, 2004
• B. Bowring Negating Pluralist Democracy: The European Court of Human Rights Forgets the Rights of the Electors // Prava Cheloveka: Praktika Yevropeiskovo Suda po pravam cheloveka (Human Rights: Case Law of the European Court of Human Rights) 6 (27), pp. 28–80.