According to the Latvian security services, Sergejs Sidorovs "used his discreet appearance and his profession as a taxi driver to move around and take photos of NATO ships and cargo unloaded in the port of Riga, as well as to spy on NATO bases and their multinational personnel".

The Riga court heard that in March 2023 Sidorovs passed on reports of various NATO activities around Riga as he was hired at the airport to drive military personnel to two bases, among other acts.

The taxi driver also handed over information about a test range for NATO and Ukrainian drones, and asked his staff for instructions on how to design a bomb to blow up an oil terminal in the Latvian capital.

Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a group of Kremlin sympathisers set up a network in Latvia called "Baltic Anti-Fascists" on the Telegram social media network, accused of bringing together volunteers willing to collect sensitive defence information.

The "Baltic Anti-Fascists" are currently the subject of separate proceedings before the Latvian courts.

After the sentence was announced on Thursday, Sidorovs limited himself to saying that he would "try to appeal the verdict".