Vehicles with Russian licence plates will have to be entered into Lithuania’s national vehicle register or leave the country by 11 March 2024, the Lithuanian Customs Department (LRM) announced, ERR reports. Drivers violating the new rule risk fines and having their vehicles confiscated. Exceptions apply to vehicles transiting via Lithuania to or from Russia’s Kaliningrad…
The unadjusted gender pay gap in the Baltic States was highest in Estonia in 2022, according to Eurostat data, LSM reported. In Estonia, women’s average gross hourly wage was 21.3% lower than that of men in 2022, which was up from 20.5% in 2021. The gender pay gap stood at 17.1% (14.6%) in Latvia and…
Russia has issued arrest warrants against Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, Deutsche Welle reports. This is the first time that Russia has opened a criminal case against an acting foreign head of government. The Russian Interior Ministry’s full database of wanted people, which was leaked to independent Russian media outlet Mediazona, indicated that Kallas and…
Estonia’s capital, Tallinn, ranked the highest in the Baltic States on Serbian database Numbeo’s Quality of Life index in 2024, BNS reported. Tallinn ranked 17th out of 195 cities worldwide. Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius, ranked 36th on the index, while the Latvian capital, Riga, ranked 88th. Numbeo’s index assesses various factors affecting quality of life, including…
Estonia ranks third on Estonian non-profit organisation e-Governance Academy’s updated National Cyber Security Index (NCSI), LSM reports. Estonia ranks third out of 31 countries on the index, with 85.83 points. Latvia is fifth with 79.17 points. Lithuania’s data is not included in the updated index. Estonia scored 80.02 points and Latvia 71.88 points in terms…
The speakers of the parliaments of the three Baltic States visited Canada and the US to discuss regional security issues and cooperation, BNS reported. They met with with the speaker of Canada’s House of Commons, Greg Fergus, and members of the Canada-Nordic-Baltic Parliamentary Friendship Group. In the US, the Baltic speakers met with the speaker…
Lithuania’s Vilnius City District Court has approved a request from the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) to arrest Sarunas Stepukonis, former partner at Estonia-registered BaltCap Infrastructure Fund (BInF), BNS reports. Stepukonis is suspected of embezzling at least EUR 27mn from the fund. His current whereabouts are unknown. BaltCap has sued Stepukonis and casino operator Olympic…
The Baltic banking group, Luminor Bank, posted a pre-tax profit of EUR 273.2mn in 2023, which was up 92% from EUR 142.4mn in 2022, The Baltic Times reported. The Estonia-based group’s annual net profit amounted to EUR 194.7mn, which was up 56% from EUR 124.7mn a year earlier. Luminor attributed the sharp rise in profit…
Lithuanians are the biggest supporters of Ukraine in the Baltic States, according to a Eurobarometer poll, BNS reports. As many as 95% of Lithuanians agree with providing humanitarian support to people affected by the war in Ukraine, compared with 91% in Latvia and 89% in Estonia. Another 93% of Lithuanians, 87% of Latvians, and 77%…