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…
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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: 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…
Estonia: New president on first foreign visits to Latvia, Finland
Estonia’s new president, Ülle Madise, made her first working visits in office to neighbouring Latvia and Finland, BNS reported. In her meetings with the Latvian and Finnish presidents, she discussed defence and regional security, energy and transport connections, protection of critical infrastructure, support for Ukraine, Nordic-Baltic cooperation, and transatlantic relations. At a joint press conference…
Baltic: GDP growth fastest in Lithuania in 2026: IMF
GDP growth in the Baltic States will be strongest in Lithuania in 2026, according to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) latest World Economic Outlook, LETA reports. The IMF projects GDP growth of 2.7% in Lithuania, 2.3% in Latvia, and 2.1% in Estonia in 2026. In 2027, the GDP will grow by 2.2% in Estonia, 2.1%…
Baltic: Leaders criticise US-Russian diesel deal
Baltic leaders criticised the US-Russian agreement on Russian diesel fuel supplies. Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal said that the agreement was a “major miscalculation,” warning that “deals with dictators are a road to hell,” ERR reported. He insisted that Russian revenues must be stopped and urged the EU to help Ukraine “blast Russia’s oil refineries…
Lithuania: Prosecutors probe public broadcaster over covert recordings
The Prosecutor General’s Office of Lithuania (LGP) has asked the country’s public broadcaster, Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT), to explain its conduct of journalistic investigations, LRT reports. LGP sent a detailed list of 15 questions to LRT’s director general, Monika Garbaciauskaite-Budriene, asking how the company regulated secret recordings internally. The questions relate to an…