Following Latvia’s initiative, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE PA) has declared Russia a state sponsor of terrorism, Baltic News Network reports. Also, the declaration sharply condemns Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and urges OSCE member states to support the creation of a special tribunal to investigate…
Ukraine’s future is in NATO, and the country will join the defence alliance, Latvia’s Prime Minister, Krisjanis Karins, stated, Baltic News Network reports. Speaking at the opening of the newly-formed NATO-Ukraine Council, Karins said that the longer Russia continued the war in Ukraine, the more united NATO would become. He said that there were two…
South Korea will open an embassy in Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol announced, Yonhap reports. Lithuania opened an embassy in Seoul in 2021. Yoon met with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda on 12 July 2023 on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Vilnius. Yoon called for expanding cooperation with Lithuania, particularly…
Latvia’s Prime Minister, Krisjanis Karins, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met in Riga on 10 July 2023, The Baltic Times reports. The two prime ministers stressed the need for cooperation in strengthening the EU’s external borders and controlling external migration. Karins noted that Italy and Latvia were developing a similar understanding on migration and…
The cost of Russia’s continued aggression against Ukraine far outweighs the cost of stopping it, Jonatan Vseviov, secretary general of Estonia’s Foreign Ministry, stated. Speaking in an interview with Estonian World, Vseviov said that Estonia’s policy was to push Russia back into Russia, adding that every country can do their part to help stop Russian…
The speaker of Latvia’s parliament, the Saeima, Edvards Smiltens, met with a delegation of parliamentarians from Japan in Riga, LETA reports. The delegation was led by Hirofumi Nakasone, chairman of the Latvia and Lithuania friendship groups of the upper house of Japan’s parliament, the House of Councillors (Sangiin). The parliamentarians discussed bilateral economic cooperation and…
Latvia’s new president, former foreign minister Edgars Rinkevics, made his first official visit abroad to Estonia on 10 July 2023, ERR reports. He met with Estonian President Alar Karis, Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, and other officials in Tallinn. They discussed bilateral cooperation, regional cooperation projects, continued support for Ukraine, and the NATO summit in Vilnius….
The foreign ministers of the eight Nordic and Baltic countries (NB8) have signed a joint declaration in support of Ukraine’s membership of the EU and NATO, ERR reports. The ministers stated that Ukraine’s future was within the “Euro-Atlantic family.” The declaration said that it was time to use the “Baltic experience of the 1990s” in…
Japan’s Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, plans to meet with Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelensky, in Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius, on 12 July 2023, The Japan Times reports. The meeting is set to take place on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Vilnius, government sources said. Kishida is expected to convey Japan’s readiness to increase support for…