Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics called for increased EU defence spending, exempting it from fiscal rules, Kathimerini reports. He emphasised the need for the EU to be more self-reliant in defence and for more coordination in defence matters. During his visit to Athens, Rinkevics discussed with Greek officials boosting economic ties, securing more funding for external…
Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina has met with a visiting delegation from the Appropriations Committee of the US House of Representatives, LSM reports. The delegation was led by Congressman Tom Cole of Oklahoma and included congressmen Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida, Chuck Fleischmann of Tennessee, Chuck Edwards of North Carolina, and Jake Ellzey of Texas. The…
Lithuania’s Foreign Ministry hosted the annual foreign and security policy conference, Snow Meeting, in Vilnius on 12 January 2024, Baltic News Network reported. The conference was attended by the foreign ministers of Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Sweden, as well as political leaders and security policy experts from several countries. The participants discussed support for Ukraine…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has concluded a two-day official visit to the three Baltic States. At a press conference with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, Zelensky said that his visit underscored the “shared trust” between nations in Russia’s neighbourhood, BNS reported. Speaking to a large crowd outside the Presidential Palace in Vilnius, Zelensky said that Russia…
The Lithuanian parliament, the Seimas, has passed a resolution calling on NATO to invite Ukraine as a new member at the defence alliance’s next summit in Washington in July 2024, BNS reports. The unanimous resolution noted that Ukraine was a provider of security that would strengthen NATO. The MPs pointed out that having Ukraine as…
The Baltic Assembly and the Nordic Council have agreed on new priorities of cooperation at their annual summit in the Estonian capital, Tallinn, BNS reports. In the 2024-2026 period, the two parliamentary cooperation organisations will focus on supporting Ukraine’s reconstruction and on defence against cyber threats and disinformation. Also, the eight parliaments will promote democracy…
A leak of alleged security details of NATO’s summit in Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius, was linked to a breach of Lithuanian government IT systems, the National Crisis Management Centre (NKVC) announced, BNS reports. NKVC director Vilmantas Vitkauskas said that the seriousness of the incident was “likely to be greater than initially thought.” The government chancellery has…
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda urged Latin American countries not to be “seduced” by Russian propaganda, BNS reports. Speaking at a summit of leaders from the EU and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in Brussels, Nauseda pointed out that Russia was “not a victim, but the aggressor” in the war in Ukraine….
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…