Estonia’s Minister of Interior, Lauri Läänemets (SDE), does not support the Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority’s (TTJA) proposal to begin monitoring media bias in news programmes, ERR reports. The ministry’s media adviser, Andres Jõesaar, rejected the idea as well. Speaking on ETV’s “Aktuaalne Kaamera,” Jõesaar stated that there was no problem that required such…
Finland’s NATO membership opens up new opportunities for defence and security cooperation between Estonia and Finland, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas stated, The Baltic Times reports. Speaking during Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s official visit to Estonia, Kallas said that Finland’s accession has bolstered NATO as a whole and the security of the Baltic Sea…
Lithuania’s President, Gitanas Nauseda, called for revising existing national sanctions laws to impose stricter entry restrictions on Belarusian citizens, LRT reports. Speaking in an interview with BNS, Nauseda cited concerns over the potential presence of mercenaries from Russia’s private military company, Wagner Group, in Belarus. Parliamentary speaker Viktorija Cmilyte-Nielsen argued that there was no need…
Europe said that the Baltic States were right about Russia, but is ignoring us again, Lithuania’s former president, Dalia Grybauskaite, said, LRT reports. Speaking at a conference on the war in Ukraine at Vilnius University, Grybauskaite noted that when Baltic politicians warned Western leaders after Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula in 2014, they were ignored,…
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said that there was no need to impose identical restrictions on Russians and Belarusians in response to the possible relocation of Russian mercenary group Wagner Group to Belarus, BNS reports. Earlier, President Gitanas Nauseda criticised the decision of the Lithuanian parliament, the Seimas, to override his veto and approve different…
Following the imposition of sanctions on Russian timber, Estonia has seen a surge in heavy timber imports from unexpected countries, where forests are assumed to be scarce, Postimees reports. Henrik Välja, CEO of the Estonian Forest and Wood Industries Association (EMPL), said that Russian timber continued to flow into Estonia through an illegal scheme whereby…
The first group of children from the Ukrainian town of Bucha, a scene of Russian war crimes, has arrived in Lithuania’s seaside resort of Palanga for summer vacation, The Baltic Times reports. Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte and Palanga mayor Sarunas Vaitkus welcomed the children and their accompanying adults. Simonyte wished the children "warm memories,…
Latvia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced the resumption of limited acceptance of visa applications from Russian citizens at Latvian diplomatic and consular missions abroad, LSM reports. The decision comes after the suspension of all visa applications from Russian citizens in response to the Wagner Group mutiny in Russia. Visa applications will now be accepted…
The chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Latvian parliament, the Saeima, Rihards Kols (National Alliance), urged member states of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to designate the Russian private military company, Wagner Group, as a terrorist organisation, LSM reports. Speaking at the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly meeting in Vancouver, Canada,…