Baltic: CIA chief warns Russia against attacking Baltics
The director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), John Ratcliffe, travelled to Moscow to…
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Welcome to Via Baltica, your “information superhighway” for news from the three Baltic tigers of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania! Our founder and editor-in-chief is Kerkko Paananen, senior news analyst with more than two decades of professional expertise in covering and reporting on current affairs in the Baltic States. We aim to do one thing well:…
Baltic: CIA chief warns Russia against attacking Baltics
The director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), John Ratcliffe, travelled to Moscow to warn Russia against attacking NATO countries, particularly the Baltic States, CBS, Politico, and The Wall Street Journal reported. Earlier, US intelligence assessed that Russia was considering attacks in the Baltic region to test NATO unity. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman,…
Estonia: Former PM Siim Kallas dead at 77
One of the prime architects of the restoration of Estonia’s independence, Siim Kallas, has died at the age of 77 years, his daughter, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, announced, ERR reports. Kallas served as president of the Bank of Estonia in 1991-1995, member of the Estonian parliament, the Riigikogu, in 1995-2004 and 2019-2024, foreign…
Lithuania: Leaders resist probe into sexual abuse within Catholic Church
Lithuania’s Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevicius and parliamentary speaker Juozas Olekas resisted calls for an independent inquiry into child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church, BNS reported. Earlier, two local priests were charged with sexual offences against children. Sinkevicius insisted that any investigation was up to Church authorities. Olekas asserted that courts should do their work…
Latvia: Business links with Russia, Belarus officially outed
Latvia’s Central Statistical Bureau (CSP) has begun publishing a list of Latvian companies that export goods to or import goods from Russia or Belarus, LSM reports. CSP will update the list monthly. The list now includes 170 companies, some very well-known ones, that continue to do business with Russia or Belarus in sectors that are…
Estonia: Conservative, Centre chairs top PM poll
Estonia’s most popular candidates for prime minister are opposition leaders Urmas Reinsalu of the national-conservative Fatherland party and Mihhail Kõlvart of the Estonian Centre Party, according to a Norstat poll for the Institute of Societal Studies (YI) in August 2026, ERR reports. The survey showed that Reinsalu was the preferred candidate for prime minister with…
Lithuania: Presidents most popular public figures: poll
Lithuania’s most popular public figure is former president Valdas Adamkus, according to Baltijos Tyrimai’s poll for ELTA in late July 2026, DELFI reports. Approval for Adamkus stood at 80% and disapproval at just 11%. Former president Dalia Grybauskaite was second with 59% approval and 32% disapproval, followed by incumbent President Gitanas Nauseda with 52% approval…
Latvia: Parliament allows government to bail out airBaltic
The Latvian parliament, the Saeima, has approved in an extraordinary session an urgent law that allows the state to bail out the country’s ailing national airline, airBaltic, LSM reports. The law, which was rushed through parliament in just one day, will allow the government to acquire around EUR 30mn of more airBaltic bonds. Also, the…
Estonia: Population smaller, richer since restoration of independence
Estonia’s population is smaller but richer and healthier now than it was at the restoration of the country’s independence in 1991, according to Statistics Estonia’s data, ERR reports. Estonia’s population totalled 1,360,745 people in the beginning of 2026, which was down 13.2% from 1,567,749 in 1991. Native Estonian-speakers now account for 68.5% of Estonia’s population,…
Lithuania: Proposal to limit Kaliningrad transit
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda’s national security adviser, Marius Cesnulevicius, supported a proposal to tighten controls on Russian transit through Lithuanian territory to and from the Kaliningrad region, BNS reports. Earlier, MP Arvydas Anusauskas of the conservative opposition Homeland Union proposed amendments that would cut the transit time from the current 24 hours to 6 hours, ELTA…