The number of Lithuanian emigrants returning home exceeded the number of those who left the country for the sixth consecutive year in 2025, according to data from the State Data Agency (VDA), BNS reported. Altogether 19,310 Lithuanian citizens returned to the country, while 9,940 citizens moved away from Lithuania in 2025. The majority of those…
Two thirds of Estonian voters disapprove of the government’s performance, according to a new Norstat poll in May 2026, ERR reports. In the survey, 67% of respondents said that the government was performing poorly, while 27% found that the government was doing its job well. The government’s approval rating was unchanged from April 2026. Support…
Lithuania is moving towards universal military conscription, Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas stated, BNS reported. The number of conscripts was increasing each year, Kaunas noted. However, the Lithuanian Armed Forces (LGP) needed more infrastructure, instructors, military capacity, and weaponry before the introduction of universal conscription, he added. Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene asserted that universal conscription remained…
Renewed calls for engagement with Russia do not reflect Europe’s security needs, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda stated, BNS reports. Speaking at the opening of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly’s spring session in the Lithuanian parliament, the Seimas, Nauseda insisted that Russia has to be “contained, not courted.” He reminded that the future of European security was…
Recent drone incidents in the Baltic States are part of Russia’s strategy to destabilise democratic societies in the region, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stated, BNS reports. Speaking after a meeting with Baltic presidents in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, von der Leyen stressed the need for EU unity in support of the three…
NATO plans to assign additional forces to defend the Baltic States, Reuters reports. Military sources revealed that Germany and the Netherlands had agreed to assign the 1 German-Netherlands Corps (1GNC), based in the German city of Münster, to the defence of Estonia and Latvia. The move would facilitate the rapid deployment of forces into the…
Lithuania’s State Security Department (VSD) has warned against proposals to resume transit shipments of Belarusian fertilisers through the port of Klaipeda, BNS reports. VSD director Remigijus Bridikis noted that such a move would contravene EU sanctions without reducing security threats posed by Belarus. He stressed that the Belarusian regime had not changed its policies of…
Latvia’s prime minister nominee, MP Andris Kulbergs of the opposition party alliance, United List, has announced the composition of his incoming four-party coalition government, LSM reports. The Kulbergs cabinet would have 14 male and just 2 female ministers. The Latvian parliament, the Saeima, will vote on approving the government on 28 May 2026. Besides Kulbergs…
Europe cannot act as mediator in peace talks between Ukraine and Russia, Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna stated, ERR reports. Speaking in an interview on ERR, he said that Russia was trying to pull Europe into taking the role of mediator so as to escape new sanctions. Russia fears that the EU will impose a…