cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/12313110
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Sergey Mulivanov, a 59-year-old activist with the Latvian Russian Union who moved to Russia two years ago … left Latvia because he disagreed with its policies. He supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and criticized the Latvian authorities for supporting Kyiv, forging closer ties with the West, and restricting the use of Russian. He ran a blog and contributed to Russian propaganda outlets, including an article for the Tsargrad television channel’s website.
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After arriving in Russia, Mulivanov obtained citizenship.
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Mulivanov’s loved ones say he was tricked into signing a contract with the Russian Defense Ministry … In late October, word came that Mulivanov was about to be sent to the front.
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People close to Mulivanov say he has type 2 diabetes and polyneuropathy.
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People close to Mulivanov say he has type 2 diabetes and polyneuropathy, and that his health deteriorated in pretrial detention.
I don’t think he’ll have to worry about diabetes or neuropathy for much longer. I foresee far more health deterioration when he faces a Ukrainian FPV drone on the front lines.
If he doesn’t want to fight, I’d say that he can flee back to Latvia if he can manage to evade Russian authorities, but it sounds like he pretty much screwed himself over on that front.
The procedure for losing (stripping) Latvian citizenship is defined by the Citizenship Law. In what cases can a person be stripped of their Latvian passport?
Secondly, one can lose Latvian citizenship if a person “without the permission of the Cabinet of Ministers voluntarily serves in the armed forces or military organization of any other state, except in cases where the person serves in the state armed forces or military organization of a member state of the European Union, a member state of the European Free Trade Association, a member state of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Commonwealth of Australia, the Federative Republic of Brazil, New Zealand, Ukraine, or in the armed forces or military organization of a state with which the Republic of Latvia has concluded an agreement on the recognition of dual citizenship.”
Finally, the fifth reason. A couple of months after the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine, that is, in 2022, the previous Saeima provided for another reason for the deprivation of citizenship of the Republic of Latvia: “a person has provided significant financial, material, propaganda, technological, or other support to states or individuals carrying out actions, including genocide, crimes against peace, crimes against humanity, war crimes undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty, and independence of democratic states or the constitutional order, or if the person themselves participated in the implementation of such actions and in the case of deprivation of Latvian citizenship, this person does not become stateless. Information that the relevant person has committed any of the mentioned actions is provided by state security institutions. Challenging and appealing the decision does not suspend its effect.”
So, there are at least 5 grounds for stripping a person of Latvian citizenship. But with one significant caveat — Latvian citizenship can only be stripped if the person does not become… stateless (a stateless person).
This means that, for example, Mamykins cannot be stripped of Latvian citizenship until he obtains a second passport — for example, that of a citizen of the Russian Federation.
So he went to Russia, got Russian citizenship, and now is in the Russian armed forces fighting against Ukraine, which probably is two of the paths for loss of Latvian citizenship.
Maybe he makes it back and can argue that his involvement wasn’t voluntary or something.
EDIT:
https://nashaniva.com/en/408611
In February 2025, Mulivanov participated in Moscow in a scientific and practical conference “Ethnocide of Russian compatriots in the Baltic countries.” There he called for the liquidation of the statehood of the Baltic peoples and stated that he personally participated in the recruitment of Russian-speaking residents of Latvia to participate in the so-called “special military operation.” Now he has gone to it himself.
Okay, so going back to the first link, that probably also means he went down another path for having Latvian citizenship stripped:
The law also provides for the possibility of stripping Latvian citizenship if a citizen of the Republic of Latvia “has engaged in activities aimed at the violent overthrow of the state power of the Republic of Latvia, publicly called for the violent overthrow of the state power established by the Constitution of the Republic of Latvia or the violent change of the state system, publicly called for the implementation of organizational actions aimed at eliminating the state independence of the Republic of Latvia. And this is confirmed by a court ruling.”
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