Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braze has called for severing economic ties with Russia and Belarus “to the maximum,” LSM reports. She insisted that Latvia must continue to decontaminate itself from Russian influence, stressing that economic security was as important for national security as military security. Braze reiterated the need for robust EU sanctions against Russia and measures to counter the Russian “shadow fleet” in the Baltic Sea.
Earlier, Braze delivered a statement on behalf of the Baltic and Nordic countries at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, condemning Russia’s human rights violations in Ukraine, LSM reported. She highlighted Russia’s persecution of journalists and civil society, political sentences, arbitrary detentions, torture, forced conscription, sexual violence, deportation of children, and efforts to eradicate local languages and culture in Ukraine.