The Lithuanian government has approved the draft state budget for 2027, BNS reports. Budget revenue, including EU funds, is expected at nearly EUR 22.2bn, which would be up 5.2% from 2026, BNS reports. Budget spending will total EUR 27.9bn, up 1.3% over a year. The State Social Insurance Fund’s (SoDra) revenue is projected at nearly…
Estonia’s new president, Ülle Madise, made her first working visits in office to neighbouring Latvia and Finland, BNS reported. In her meetings with the Latvian and Finnish presidents, she discussed defence and regional security, energy and transport connections, protection of critical infrastructure, support for Ukraine, Nordic-Baltic cooperation, and transatlantic relations. At a joint press conference…
Baltic leaders criticised the US-Russian agreement on Russian diesel fuel supplies. Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal said that the agreement was a “major miscalculation,” warning that “deals with dictators are a road to hell,” ERR reported. He insisted that Russian revenues must be stopped and urged the EU to help Ukraine “blast Russia’s oil refineries…
Lithuania’s Interior Minister, Martynas Katelynas, has asked Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas to deploy troops to the country’s border with Russia’s Kaliningrad region, BNS reports. Katelynas said that the troop deployment was a preventive measure in response to an armed incident on Latvia’s border with Belarus. Speaking in an interview with Die Welt, Prime Minister Mindaugas…
US President Donald Trump will consider establishing a permanent US military base in Lithuania, LRT reports. Earlier, Lithuanian Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevicius announced that Lithuania was prepared to cover the costs of permanent US military presence in the country. He welcomed Trump’s response to the proposal, saying that US troop presence in Lithuania was a…
The US failed to invite several NATO allies, including the three Baltic States, to a working group meeting in Poland to discuss the future of the alliance, Politico reported. Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal confirmed that Estonia had not received an invitation, but stressed that the gathering was not an official NATO meeting, ERR reported. Defence…
The director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), John Ratcliffe, travelled to Moscow to warn Russia against attacking NATO countries, particularly the Baltic States, CBS, Politico, and The Wall Street Journal reported. Earlier, US intelligence assessed that Russia was considering attacks in the Baltic region to test NATO unity. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman,…
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda assured that Lithuania was not considering withdrawing from the International Criminal Court (ICC), LRT reports. He insisted that any talk of leaving the ICC was “completely difficult to comprehend.” Earlier, the US urged allied countries, including Lithuania, to withdraw or distance themselves from the Rome Statute, which established the ICC, LRT…
The EU should cover costs related to confronting Russia, Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs stated, Politico reports. He said that the EU should grant an additional EUR 7bn from its next multi-annual budget to compensate for Latvia’s higher defence spending and loss of trade with Russia. Latvia’s projected defence spending over the seven-year budget period…
