Latvia: New railway line to Riga Airport to be built
Latvia’s state-owned railway company, Latvijas Dzelzcels (LDz), has signed an agreement with the Finance Ministry’s…
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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:…
Latvia: New railway line to Riga Airport to be built
Latvia’s state-owned railway company, Latvijas Dzelzcels (LDz), has signed an agreement with the Finance Ministry’s Central Finance and Contracts Agency (CFLA) on a project to build a new railway line to Riga International Airport, LSM reports. Under the contract, LDz and state-owned Eiropas Dzelzcela Linijas (EDZL) plan to build a new branch line from the…
Estonia: China protests MPs celebrating Taiwan’s National Day
The Chinese embassy in Estonia has sent a diplomatic note to the country’s parliament, the Riigikogu, protesting the participation of Estonian MPs at a reception celebrating Taiwan’s National Day in Tallinn, ERR reports. Altogether eight MPs from various parties attended the event, which was organised by Taiwan’s representative office in Latvia. The Chinese embassy suggested…
Baltic: Estonians travelled less in 2025: statistics
Estonians travelled less and Lithuanians and Latvians more in 2025 than a year earlier, according to Eurostat, LSM reports. The data showed that Lithuanians made altogether 7.19 million overnight trips in 2025, which was up 4.4% from 6.89 million in 2024. The number of trips by Latvian residents totalled 5.04 million, which was up 3.0%…
Lithuania: Increased Lithuanian emigration, foreign immigration
Altogether 12,294 Lithuanian citizens returned to Lithuania while 11,753 moved away from the country in the first nine months of 2026, according to the State Data Agency’s preliminary statistics, LRT reported. In September 2026, the number of emigrants was higher than that of returnees. Until now, the number of Lithuanians returning home has been higher…
Latvia: Riga Airport’s passenger flow flat in M9/2026
Latvia’s Riga International Airport (RIX) served a total of 5.32 million passengers in the first nine months of 2026, which was as many as in the same period of 2025, LETA reported. Transit passengers accounted for 22% of the total, which was up from 20% a year earlier. Latvia’s national airline, airBaltic, accounted for 59%…
Estonia: Rare earth company to stop supplies from Russia
The Estonian rare earths processor, NPM Silmet, plans to stop using raw materials from Russia’s state-owned Solikamsk Magnesium Works (SMZ) by the end of 2026, ERR reports. NPM Silmet said that it would have to reduce production at its plant in Sillamäe as a result. The company is still waiting for a final shipment from…
Baltic: Leaders urge EU ban on Russian grain
The Baltic States called on the EU to ban transit shipments of Russian grain through EU territory, BNS reported. Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal, Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs, and Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda made the call in a joint letter to European Council President António Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen….
Lithuania: PM hopes for progress on restoring ties with China
Lithuania expects progress on restoring full diplomatic ties with communist China by the end of 2026, Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevicius announced, BNS reported. He explained that the government had prepared an action plan with specific steps and deadlines for restoring diplomatic representation with China. He said that the government was pursuing improved relations without public…
Latvia: airBaltic losses soar in H1/2026
Latvia’s ailing national airline, airBaltic, recorded a loss of EUR 128.2mn in the first half of 2026, compared to a loss of just EUR 1.7mn in the same period of 2025, LETA reported. The aviation group’s revenues totalled EUR 399.2mn, which was up 14.2% from EUR 349.6mn in the first half of 2025. In the…