Pro-Kremlin activist Mulivanov, who moved to Russia, sent to fight in Ukraine

Sergejs Mulivanovs, a 59-year-old Latvian-born pro-Kremlin activist and former member of the organisation “Latvia’s Russian Union”, has been sent to the front in Ukraine, where Russia continues its war, according to his relatives. He moved to Russia in 2024. His family says he signed a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defence by deception while held in pre-trial detention.

Who Mulivanovs is

He became known to a wider audience after taking part in a pro-Kremlin discussion titled “Ethnocide of Russian compatriots in the Baltic states”, held in Moscow on 4 February 2025. Calls were made there to eliminate Latvians and the Baltic states. Mulivanovs said that for two years his circle had been conscripting and recruiting men from the Baltic states for the war in Ukraine, and he argued that those who return would be able to dictate the rules of life in the Baltics.

Move and arrest

According to acquaintances, he relocated to Russia because he condemned Latvia’s support for Ukraine and Riga’s Western orientation. In Russia he repeatedly gave comments to Kremlin media, calling the Latvian authorities fascist over restrictions on the Russian language.

Relatives say he found courier work on a job-listing website in Russia, but the advertisement was allegedly placed by fraudsters. He unknowingly transported stolen money, becoming a so-called money mule. He was arrested in April this year, though he did not admit guilt.

Sent to the front

After the contract was signed, the criminal case was suspended. Mulivanovs and his lawyer filed a refusal to take part in the war. He was due to be questioned about his reasons on 30 October, but an investigator reportedly replied that it was “already too late”. Mulivanovs managed to phone relatives from a bus heading to Rostov-on-Don. Six days have passed since then, and his whereabouts are unknown.

Relatives say he has type 2 diabetes and polyneuropathy, his eyesight worsened in detention, he developed vascular problems, and necrosis appeared in his leg. The defence says he has not undergone a military medical commission, and requests for a medical examination have so far gone unanswered.