Most Lithuanians see the situation in the country getting worse, according to a new Baltijos Tyrimai poll for LRT. The survey showed that 69% of Lithuanians thought that the situation in the country was deteriorating in June 2023, which was down from 76% a month earlier. Meanwhile, 21% said that the situation was improving, which…
Latvia’s new president, Edgars Rinkevics, will pay an official visit to Lithuania on 19 July 2023, BNS reports. Rinkevics will meet with his Lithuanian counterpart, Gitanas Nauseda, and speaker of the Lithuanian parliament, the Seimas, Viktorija Cmilyte-Nielsen. The officials will discuss the decisions taken at the NATO summit in Vilnius, regional and energy security, and…
The decision of NATO’s Vilnius summit not to invite Ukraine to join the alliance reflects the view of the leaders of the bigger Western countries on how the war in Ukraine may end, Estonian MP Raimond Kaljulaid (SDE), head of the Estonian delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, says. Writing in an opinion piece for…
Estonia’s Defence Minister, Hanno Pevkur, and UK Secretary of Defence Ben Wallace have signed a joint declaration on integrating British and Estonian forces, BNS reports. Under the plan, a British brigade due to be deployed in Estonia will operate within an Estonian division. Also, UK staff officers will be embedded into the command of the…
The Conservative People’s Party of Estonia (EKRE) has no intention to make any concessions and will continue to obstruct the current coalition government’s work in the parliament, the Riigikogu, in autumn 2023, EKRE chairman Martin Helme stated, ERR reports. Earlier, the coalition suggested that opposition parties withdraw questions and legislative proposals so as not to…
Latvia’s President Edgars Rinkevics said that he had a plan if the current coalition government fails to agree on continued cooperation by the end of August 2023, LETA reports. He refused to reveal the plan, saying that he would leave it as “a potential surprise for when the time comes.” Rinkevics urged political parties taking…
Lithuania expects a plan for deploying a permanent German brigade in Lithuania to be completed by the end of September 2023, Defence Minister Arvydas Anusauskas announced, LRT reports. He said that a joint task group was now starting work on drawing up the plan. Earlier, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said that Germany expected to…
Latvia’s Ministry of Justice plans to propose amendments that would abolish conditional prison sentences, replacing them with probation, LSM reports. Anda Smiltena, deputy secretary of state at the Ministry of Justice, said that the State Probation Service’s (VPD) task would be to influence the thinking of the offender and correct their behaviour. The measures would…
Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics has asked Prosecutor General Juris Stukans to explain why a Latvian citizen who provided support to Russia got away with just a fine, LSM reports. Earlier, a court found Marats Kasems, editor of Russian propaganda agency Sputnik’s Lithuanian edition, guilty of supporting Russia’s activities against Latvia and sentenced him to a…