Lithuania: Military drone crashes in northern Lithuania
A suspected Ukrainian military drone crashed in northern Lithuania in the early evening of 17…
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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:…
Lithuania: Military drone crashes in northern Lithuania
A suspected Ukrainian military drone crashed in northern Lithuania in the early evening of 17 May 2026, LRT reports. The National Crisis Management Centre (NKVC) said that the drone crashed in a field near a village in the Utena district. According to the Lithuanian Armed Forces (LGS), military radars failed to detect the drone, and…
Lithuania: President denies US pressure on Belarus fertiliser transit
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda denied that the US was pressuring Lithuania to reopen transit shipments of fertilisers from Belarus, BNS reported. He stressed that Belarusian fertilisers were under EU sanctions and insisted that there were no grounds to lift the sanctions. Earlier, Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys told a closed-door meeting of the parliamentary group of…
Latvia: Freight traffic on roads rose, fell on railways in 2025
The volume of freight transported by road increased, while the volume of rail freight decreased in Latvia in 2025, according to the Central Statistical Bureau (CSP), LSM reports. The total volume of freight transported by land amounted to 89.8 million tonnes in 2025, which was up 0.6% from 89.3 million tonnes in 2024. The volume…
Estonia: Foreign Minister warns against talks with Russia
Estonia’s Foreign Minister, Margus Tsahkna, warned Europe against direct talks with Russia at a time when Ukraine has gained the upper hand in the war against Russian aggression, Bloomberg reported. Speaking on the sidelines of the annual Lennart Meri Conference (LMC) in Tallinn, Tsahkna insisted that now was not the moment to negotiate, but to…
Latvia: President asks opposition MP to form new government
Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics has asked MP Andris Kulbergs of the opposition United List to begin forming a new government, LSM reports. Rinkevics said that he chose Kulbergs because United List was the largest opposition group in the parliament, the Saeima, at the moment. Forming a new government was preferable to letting outgoing Prime Minister…
Lithuania: Far-right party leader investigated for fraud
Lithuania’s Financial Crime Investigation Service (FNTT) carried out searches at the homes and in the offices of MP Remigijus Zemaitaitis, leader of the far-right populist party, Dawn of Nemunas (PPNA), and another PPNA MP, Daiva Petkeviciene, BNS reported. FNTT also searched PPNA’s party headquarters in Vilnius. The investigation focuses on whether the two MPs committed…
Latvia: President begins talks on new government
Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics has begun consultations with parliamentary groups on forming a new government, Baltic News reports. The President stressed the need to ensure political stability, effective governance, and national security continuity. The discussions are focused on how to build a working coalition in the parliament, the Saeima, and on the future direction of…
Estonia: Unemployment rate 7.1% in Q1/2026: statistics
The number of unemployed people in Estonia totalled 52,200 in the first quarter of 2026, which was 5,100 more than in the fourth quarter of 2025, but much lower than in the first quarter of 2025, according to data from Statistics Estonia, ERR reports. Estonia’s unemployment rate stood at 7.1%, which was up 0.7 percentage…
Baltic: Poor mental health costs over 2% of GDP per year: report
The Baltic States are likely to see a more than 2% decline in GDP per year due to poor mental health over 2025-2050, according to a new report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), ERR reports. The projected drop in GDP in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania will be the highest of all…