Latvia’s Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau (KNAB) has searched three hospitals in Riga and Valmiera in a case involving suspected fraud of EU and state budget funds, LSM reports. KNAB carried out searches in more than 17 locations across Latvia, including at the Pauls Stradins Clinical University Hospital (PSKUS) and the Traumatology and Orthopaedics Hospital…
The fugitive Russian banker, Vladimir Antonov, has finally been extradited from France to Lithuania, BNS reports. Earlier, France’s highest court rejected Antonov’s appeal against extradition. In December 2025, he was arrested in western France, where he had been living under an assumed identity. Antonov and his Lithuanian business partner, Raimondas Baranauskas, have both been convicted…
Lithuania’s Prosecutor General’s Office has opened a criminal investigation into a major 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. According to 15min, the breach…
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…
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….
Poor management of Latvia’s state forest management company, Latvijas Valsts Mezi (LVM), led to major monetary losses, according to the State Audit Office (LRVK), LSM reported. The audit concluded that LVM’s management and the Ministry of Agriculture had failed to ensure sufficiently effective oversight of the company. The government’s decision to provide support to timber…
Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has doubled rail freight tariffs to Estonia, Latvia, and Finland as of 1 June 2026, ERR reports. The double rate will apply to freight transported via Belarus to Latvia and Estonia as well. Freight to Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave or Lithuania is exempt, however. Estonian logistics expert Raivo Vare pointed out…
Passenger traffic by land and sea transport increased in Latvia in 2025, according to the Central Statistical Bureau (CSP), LSM reported. The number of passengers on land transport totalled 192.4 million in 2025, which was up 0.6% from 191.2 million in 2024. The number of passengers on regular bus lines amounted to 97.6 million (down…
Tourist accommodation establishments in Latvia had a total of 447,100 guests in the first quarter of 2026, which was down 3.0% from 460,800 in the same period of 2025, according to the Central Statistical Bureau (CSP), LSM reports. The number of foreign guests amounted to 246,600, which was 7.2% fewer than a year earlier. The…
