Lithuania: Vilnius to hold ceremony for dead US soldiers
Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius, will hold a ceremony on 3 April 2025 to honour four US…
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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 expertise in covering current affairs in the Baltic States. We aim to do one thing well: Every day, we will…
Lithuania: Vilnius to hold ceremony for dead US soldiers
Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius, will hold a ceremony on 3 April 2025 to honour four US soldiers who died during a military exercise at the Pabrade training area in eastern Lithuania, BNS reports. The ceremonial cortege will proceed through the city centre and will be met by Archbishop Gintaras Grusas, President Gitanas Nauseda, Defence Minister Dovile…
Latvia: Relations with US “deep, positive”: Foreign Minister
Latvia’s relations with the US are deep and positive, Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braze assured, LETA reports. Speaking in an interview with LTV, Braze noted said that US President Donald Trump’s administration appreciated Latvia for being a good ally and for not engaging in public “loud rhetoric.” Earlier, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met…
Estonia: Annual inflation may exceed 6% in 2025: analysts
Estonia’s annual inflation may reach 6% or higher in 2025, driven by the rise in energy and food prices, local analysts forecast, ERR reports. Triinu Tapver, analyst at LHV Pank, said that inflation could amount to as much as 6.2-6.5% in 2025, which would be up sharply from the bank’s earlier estimate of 4.5% at…
Lithuania: Achema fertiliser plant may begin producing explosives
The Lithuanian fertiliser producer, Achema, may begin producing explosives, Lithuanian Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas announced, BNS reports. He was speaking after a meeting with representatives of Achema’s management. Earlier, Vidmantas Janulevicius, president of the Lithuanian Confederation of Industrialists (LPK), suggested converting some of the country’s large chemical plants to the production of explosives. Achema announced…
Latvia: President proposes easier procedure for public referendums
Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics has proposed amendments to simplify the procedure to initiate public referendums, LETA reports. He proposed halving the number of signatures needed to 5% of those who took part in the last parliamentary election and shortening the time to collect signatures to six months. If the 5% threshold is met, the Central…
Estonia: Ryanair cancels summer flights from Tallinn to six destinations
Irish low-cost air carrier Ryanair has cancelled flights from the Estonian capital, Tallinn, to six destinations for the period from April to October 2025, BNS reports. During the summer season, the airline will not fly from Tallinn to Billund, Bergamo, Paphos, Rome, Treviso, and Vienna. Ryanair will continue to fly from Tallinn to Milan, however….
Lithuania: Body of fourth US soldier found at Pabrade training area
The body of a fourth US Army soldier has been found at the Pabrade training area in eastern Lithuania, US Army Europe and Africa announced, LRT reports. Three of the four missing soldiers were found earlier after an M88 Hercules armoured vehicle was pulled out of a swamp at the training area. The rescue operation…
Latvia: State Police chief to be appointed for another five-year term
The Latvian government has confirmed the appointment of Armands Ruks for another five-year term as chief of the Latvian State Police until October 2030, LSM reports. Ruks was first appointed to the post in October 2020. He said that his priorities in his second term of office would be to build police capacity, combat violence,…
Estonia: Portugal taking over NATO air-policing mission
The Portuguese Air Force (FAP) will take over NATO’s enhanced Air Policing mission from the Royal Netherlands Air Force (KLu) at Estonia’s Ämari Air Base, ERR reports. FPA will deploy around 90 military personnel and four F-16M fighter aircraft to the base for four months. The forces will be responsible for securing the airspace over…