Estonia’s Tallinn Administrative Court has overturned the government’s decision to extradite Estonian citizen Andrei Sevljakov to the US, ERR reports. The court pointed to concerns that detention conditions in US prisons may not meet humane standards. The court instructed the government to obtain assurances from the US that Sevljakov’s prison conditions will not be inhumane….
Latvia’s State Revenue Service (VID) has stopped over 5,000 shipments of goods for possible violation of EU sanctions against Russia and Belarus, LSM reports. VID has initiated more than 250 criminal cases over sanctions violations, including 114 in 2022 and 144 in 2023. Raimonds Zukuls, director of VID’s customs administration, said that most of the…
Estonia’s Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority (TTJA) received over 4,000 consumer complaints in 2023, which was up from a little over 3,500 in 2022, ERR reported. Of all consumer disputes, over 900 related to leaving contractual agreements and 500 to damage. More than 50% of complaints related to purchases of furniture (around 300), health…
Latvia’s Central Statistical Bureau (CSB) has released a list of Latvian companies that continue to export to Russia and Belarus, LETA reports. Economy Minister Ilze Indriksone instructed CSB to publish the list, which includes nearly 1,000 companies. The most common goods exported from Latvia to Russia include food products, alcoholic beverages, chemicals, medical products, machinery,…
Estonia’s producer price index (PPI) of industrial output fell by 1.9% on year in June 2023, according to Statistics Estonia, ERR reports. Compared to May 2023, the PPI dropped by 0.4%. The biggest impact on the index came from a fall in the price of electricity production and in the manufacture of wood products and…
Estonia has extradited Russian citizen Vadim Konoshchenok, suspected employee of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), to the US, BNS reports. Konoshchenok was arraigned at a federal court in New York on 14 July 2023. He is suspected of violating sanctions by smuggling strictly regulated electronics and tactical ammunition of US origin from Estonia to Russia….
The Lithuanian government has imposed a temporary ban on transit shipments of specific dual-use goods through Lithuania, Baltic News Network reports. The concern is that these goods could ultimately reach Russia and Belarus and be used in the war in Ukraine. The control list comprises 57 categories of goods subject to restrictions, primarily items containing…
Retail turnover in Estonia saw a significant decline in the first half of 2023, primarily driven by decreases in the construction and industrial goods sectors, while food sales remained relatively stable, ERR reports. The electronics industry was particularly hard-hit, with a sharp 20% drop in sales year-on-year, specifically in computers and telecommunications devices. Bookstores also…