Latvia’s Latvians and Russian-speakers continue to hold completely opposite views on the war in Ukraine, according to an SKDS poll for Ir magazine, LSM reports. The survey showed that 78% of Latvian-speakers supported Ukraine in April 2023, while only 27% of Russian-speakers did so. In mixed households, just 32% supported Ukraine, which was down from…
Latvia’s Ministry of Defence and National Armed Forces (NBS) have extended the application period for volunteers in the second draft for military service by about a week until 21 July 2023, LSM reports. The Ministry of Defence said that there was a spike in applications just before the earlier deadline. So far, 172 young volunteers…
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 Lithuanian Migration Department (LMD) has revoked the residence permit of a Russian citizen, Vladimir Vodo, after the State Security Department (VSD) said that he posed a threat to national security, BNS reports. Vodo claims to be a journalist, yet spreads pro-Russian propaganda on social media and has contacts with Russian and Belarusian intelligence services, VSD…
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…
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…
Estonia needs proactive legislation to restrict “harmful foreign media outlets,” in addition to sanctions imposed on Russia, Andres Jõesaar, media adviser at the Estonian Ministry of Culture, stated, ERR reports. He conceded that the recent controversial proposal by the Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority (TTJA) to monitor media bias was “badly worded.” However, Jõesaar…
Lithuania recorded dozens, if not hundreds, of information and cyber attacks just before and during the NATO summit in Vilnius, Kestutis Budrys, chief national security adviser to President Gitanas Nauseda, announced, LRT reports. He said that the authorities managed to repel almost all of the attacks, however. “Everything was red when the summit was taking…