Lithuanian mobile operators criticised the government’s plan to introduce mandatory registration of prepaid SIM cards as of 2024, LRT reports. The government argues that mandatory registration is necessary due to phone fraud and other criminal activity. Vytautas Bucinskas, head of business assurance at Telia Lietuva, pointed out that prepaid SIM cards were often used by…
Officials from Estonia’s Ida-Virumaa county are considering the possibility of establishing a direct flight connection with southeastern Finland, ERR reports. Local officials from Narva, Narva-Jõesuu, and Sillamäe took a test flight from an airfield outside Narva to Pyhtää airport (Helsinki-East Aerodrome) in Finland. Esa Korjula, CEO of Pyhtää airport’s operator, Redstone Aero, and Terhi Lindholm,…
Estonian ride-hailing service provider Bolt will separate its taxi drivers in Lithuania by language proficiency, ELTA reports. Bolt spokesman Mantas Cizas siad that the company would apply stricter standards to communication and behaviour in the “Bolt” category, requiring that drivers speak fluent Lithuanian or English. Those who fail to do so can continue in the…
More than 50,000 people in Estonia have signed a public petition against the introduction of a car tax, BNS reports. The petition is thus the most successful public petition to date in Estonia. The petition is open until 31 August 2023. Priit Tammeraid, board chairman of the Estonian Car Owners Association (EAOL), said that the…
Estonia is celebrating the 32nd Independence Restoration Day on 20 August 2023, Estonian World reports. Estonia formally restored its independence on 20 August 1991 during the failed Soviet coup attempt, reconstituting the pre-1940 Estonian state. The first country to recognise Estonia’s reclaimed independence was Iceland. The Estonian War Museum (ESM) has placed a giant Estonian…
Latvia’s state-owned railway company, Latvijas Dzelzcels (LDz), carried 7.746mn tonnes of rail cargo in the first half of 2023, which was 36.7% less than in the same period of 2022, LETA reports. The volume of international freight amounted to 7.041mn tonnes (down 39.2%), while domestic freight doubled to 705,000 tonnes. LDz board chairman Rinalds Plavnieks…
Belarusian exiles in Lithuania have protested against what they say is “growing hostility” towards Belarusians, BNS reports. Volha Karach, director of the Lithuania-based NGO, Nash Dom (Our House), said that Belarusians in Lithuania were “victims of their openness.” She noted that Lithuanian authorities now deemed past military service or links to state institutions in Belarus…
Latvia’s Central Statistical Bureau (CSB) has released a list of Latvian companies that continue to export to Russia and Belarus, LETA reports. Economy Minister Ilze Indriksone instructed CSB to publish the list, which includes nearly 1,000 companies. The most common goods exported from Latvia to Russia include food products, alcoholic beverages, chemicals, medical products, machinery,…
Lithuania’s Energy Ministry plans to increase the protection of the country’s electricity infrastructure and Polish-owned oil company Orlen Lietuva’s refinery, BNS reports. Under an order drafted by Energy Minister Dainius Kreivys, the state will place key electricity infrastructure, including network connections with other countries, at a higher level of protection. Also, the state will place…