The Russian unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that crashed in Latvia’s eastern Rezekne municipality was an Iranian-designed Shahed drone carrying 90 kg of explosives, the Latvian National Armed Forces (NBS) announced, LETA reports. The drone’s warhead did not detonate in the crash. NBS deactivated the drone and is now inspecting its components. Janis Garisons, former state…
This is the first ever edition of Baltic Week, our curated free newsletter of top news items from the three Baltic States over the past week (or so). Please note that this new feature will be quite experimental for now, and that this first edition will probably be much longer than subsequent editions. You can…
The Latvia-based commercial bank, Citadele, posted a net profit of EUR 50.9mn in the Baltic States in the first half of 2024, which was down 21% from EUR 64.5mn in the same period of 2023, bne IntelliNews reports. The bank’s operating income rose by 2% to EUR 116.1mn, with interest revenue increasing by 9% to…
Lithuanian mobile telecommunications operator TELE2 was the market leader in mobile voice services in the second quarter of 2024, according to the Communications Regulatory Authority (RRT), Telecompaper reported. TELE2’s market share stood at 45.9% in terms of SIMs used for mobile voice services. The company had over 2 million subscribers, which was up 1.8% from…
Some Lithuanian nationals have joined Russian occupation forces in Ukraine, LRT reports. At least five Lithuanian citizens are known to be fighting for Russia against Ukraine, 15min reports. Defence Minister Laurynas Kasciunas confirmed that there was “definitely more than one” Lithuanian fighting on the Russian side. He said that the persons were known to Lithuania’s…
Latvia’s National Cyber Security Centre (NKDC) began operations on 1 September 2024, Labs of Latvia reports. NKDC is an agency under the Ministry of Defence and will serve as a single contact point for cyber security issues, oversee the implementation of national cyber security requirements, and develop national cyber security policy initiatives. NKDC will collaborate…
The Estonian government will not raise wages for teachers in 2025, ERR reports. The Estonian Educational Personnel Union (EHL) has demanded that basic teacher salaries start at the level of the national average wage. However, Education Minister Kristina Kallas noted that the state did not have the money to meet EHL’s demand, which would require…
Lithuanian news agency ELTA has signed a cooperation agreement with Taiwan’s national news agency, Central News Agency (CNA), Focus Taiwan reports. The news agencies agreed to share content free of charge. ELTA is CNA’s first official partner in the Baltic region. CNA’s editor-in-chief, Chris Wang, said that the cooperation between the two news agencies reflected…
Latvia’s Financial Sector Development Board (FSAP), chaired by Prime Minister Evika Silina, reviewed the country’s anti-money laundering (AML) measures during a meeting on 5 September 2024, LSM reports. The Financial Intelligence Unit (FID) reported on Latvia’s progress in relation to the Council of Europe’s evaluation of the country’s AML efforts. The meeting also addressed concerns…