Lithuania: Data breach at state registry
Lithuania’s Prosecutor General’s Office has opened a criminal investigation into a data breach at the…
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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: Data breach at state registry
Lithuania’s Prosecutor General’s Office has opened a criminal investigation into a data breach at the Centre of Registers (VIRC), BNS reports. The investigators said that more than 600,000 records may have been copied illegally from VIRC’s real estate and business registers. The data breach may have originated from abroad, using systems managed by other institutions.
Latvia: Drone crashes into lake, explodes
An unidentified drone crashed into a lake in eastern Latvia on 23 May 2026, LSM reported. A local resident saw the drone fall into Lake Dridzis in the Kraslava municipality and explode on impact. No injuries or damage was reported. Authorities are examining the wreckage. The Latvian National Armed Forces (NBS) said that their sensors…
Estonia: Household wealth more than doubled in ten years
The wealth of Estonian households has increased significantly, while wealth inequality has remained relatively stable over 2013-2024, according to the Bank of Estonia and Statistics Estonia, ERR reports. The household finance and consumption surveys showed that the median household had net wealth of EUR 103,300 in 2024, which was up more than double from EUR…
Baltic: Latvia’s population decline fastest in EU in 2005-2025
Latvia’s population has dropped at the highest rate in the entire EU over the last 20 years, according to Eurostat, LSM reported. Latvia’s population declined by 17% in 2005-2025. Meanwhile, Lithuania’s population decreased by 14%, whereas Estonia’s population only declined by 1% over the same period. The population totalled 2.89 million people in Lithuania, 1.86…
Estonia: Government approves new climate law
The Estonian government has approved a new climate law, sending the draft bill to the country’s parliament, the Riigikogu, for consideration, ERR reports. The legislation establishes general greenhouse gas emission reduction targets for 2030, 2035, and 2040. The parliament has already set a goal for climate neutrality by 2050. Sector-specific emission reduction targets are included…
Latvia: Two-tier system set up for drone alerts
The Latvian National Armed Forces (NBS) has introduced a new two-tier system for mobile alerts informing the public of potential security threats, LSM reports. Alerts are now either yellow or orange, depending on the assessed seriousness of the threat. Yellow alerts will warn of possible threats in Latvian airspace requiring no immediate action from residents,…
Lithuania: US asks to allow Belarusian fertiliser exports
The US Department of State has sent a letter to Lithuania, Poland, and Ukraine, asking them to lift sanctions on Belarusian potash and allow transit shipments through their territories, RFE/RL reports. The letter stated that US companies were interested in buying Belarusian potash shipped via Baltic or Ukrainian ports so as to avoid Russian ports….
Baltic: Nordic, Baltic foreign ministers decry Russian threats
Nordic and Baltic foreign ministers condemned Russian threats to attack the Baltic States amid Ukrainian drone strikes, Reuters reported. Earlier, Russia claimed that Ukraine was using NATO airspace as cover for drone attacks on Russian targets. In a joint statement, the NB8 foreign ministers rejected “Russia’s blatant disinformation campaign and false claims, supported by Belarus,…
Lithuania: PM contradicts Foreign Minister on Russia
NATO has the means to destroy air defence and missile bases in Russia’s Kaliningrad region, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys stated, BNS reported. Speaking in an interview with Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Budrys said that “we must show the Russians that we can penetrate the little fortress they have built in Kaliningrad,” LETA reported. Also, he…