The number of foreign travellers visiting Lithuania totalled 1.5 million in 2025, which was 4.4% more than in 2024, according to the State Data Agency (VDA), BNS reports. Foreign tourists stayed an average of four nights in Lithuania, which was the main travel destination for 77% of all arrivals. According to state-run tourism promotion agency…
Ghana’s Foreign Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, arrived on a two-day working visit to Latvia on 2 February 2026, LSM reported. Ablakwa said that the immediate reason for his visit was to discuss the circumstances surrounding the death of an 18-year-old Ghanaian student in Riga in June 2025, GhanaWeb reported. Also, Ablakwa informed his Latvian counterpart,…
Estonian authorities have boarded and detained a Bahamian-flagged container ship suspected of smuggling, the Estonian Tax and Customs Board (EMTA) announced, ERR reports. Officials stopped the vessel, Baltic Spirit, off the island of Naissaar in Estonia’s internal waters. The ship, with an all-Russian crew, was en route from Ecuador to Saint Petersburg in Russia. The vessel…
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda warned of “risks associated with overly close engagement with the Chinese regime,” BNS reported. Speaking in an interview with Ziniu Radijas, Nauseda said that Lithuania “did not take pleasure” in the current rupture of diplomatic ties with China, but noted that restoring relations would require goodwill from both sides. He compared…
The new US ambassador to Latvia, Melissa Argyros, is expected to assume her diplomatic post in Riga in February 2026, Baltic News Network reports. She will replace the current US ambassador, Christopher Robinson. Argyros is a California-based real estate investor, holding several senior positions in the family’s real estate company, Arnel & Affiliates, the Argyros…
Estonian President Alar Karis has appointed Kristjan Prikk as the country’s new ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), ERR reports. Prikk, who has served as Estonia’s ambassador to the US since 2021, will replace Estonia’s current NATO ambassador, Jüri Luik, as of August 2026. Previously, Prikk served in various defence-related diplomatic posts. He…
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda pledged to push for the EU to extend sanctions imposed against Belarus, BNS reports. He pointed to the Belarusian regime’s continued alignment with Russia, repression of political opponents, and repeated hybrid attacks against Lithuania. EU defence commissioner Andrius Kubilius agreed that there was no reason for the EU to remove the…
A consortium led by US-based JPMorgan will advise on the Latvian state’s buyout of Swedish telecommunications group Telia’s shares in the Latvian telecommunications companies, Tet and Latvijas Mobilais Telefons (LMT), BNS reports. Under the agreement, the consortium, which besides JPMorgan includes A&O Shearman, Deloitte, Hardiman Telecommunications, TEGOS, and WALLESS, will advise Latvia’s state-owned energy group, Latvenergo,…
Police in Estonia have registered over 1,000 violations of a law banning symbols of state aggression since April 2022, ERR reports. The law prohibits the public display of symbols supporting international crimes, including Russia’s wars of aggression. Erik Kalda, managing editor of local daily Põhjarannik, said that everyone in the majority Russian-speaking Ida-Virumaa county now…