The Latvian government is in talks with a strategic investor for the country’s ailing national airline, airBaltic, Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs revealed, Reuters reported. He said that the potential investor was “a serious partner,” but refused to indicate what stake the investor could acquire. The state’s main condition was that the investor maintain airBaltic’s hub…
Russia may be planning provocations against the Baltic States or Poland to test NATO unity, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda and Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics warned, BNS and LETA reported. Nauseda said that intelligence indicated that Russia could be preparing “targeted kinetic operations” against critical infrastructure in the region. Rinkevics said that the intelligence reports pointed…
Russia has closed several railway checkpoints on the borders with Finland, Estonia, and Latvia as of 1 July 2026, The Baltic Times reports. The official notice indicated no end date or reason for the closure. The order applies to the Lyttä, Värtsilä, and Svetogorsk (Enso) checkpoints on Russia’s border with Finland, the Pechory (Petseri) checkpoint…
Completing the construction of the Rail Baltica railway in all three Baltic States by 2030 is “mathematically impossible,” Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs stated, LETA reported. Speaking in an interview with TV3, Kulbergs said that Estonian political leaders were living in a “dream world” regarding the project’s timetable, suggesting that they had been given incomplete…
The three Baltic States lack sufficient funding to complete the first phase of the Rail Baltica railway project, LSM reports. The total cost of the first phase is estimated at EUR 15bn, and only slightly more than EUR 5bn of funding has been pledged so far. Marko Kivila, CEO of the project’s central coordinating entity,…
Lithuania’s incoming new coalition government may try to resume official dialogue with neighbouring Belarus on reopening transport links and trade, The Baltic Sentinel reports. Political analyst Vytautas Bruveris noted that many rural voters of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP) and the Lithuanian Union of Farmers and Greens (LVZS), especially in eastern Lithuania, were tired…
Latvia’s state-owned passenger train operator, Pasazieru Vilciens (Vivi), will impose a contractual penalty of EUR 5.7mn on the Czech rolling stock manufacturer, Skoda Vagonka, LETA reports. Vivi board chairman Raitis Nespors explained that the penalties were due to delays in the delivery of new electric trains, failure to rectify identified defects on time, and other…
A third of Latvian car drivers admit driving under the influence of alcohol, according to a new Norstat survey carried out in April 2026, LETA reported. The survey showed that 32% of respondents admitted to drinking and driving sometimes, which was up from 31% a year earlier. As many as 42% (41%) of men and…
The Latvian parliament, the Saeima, has approved amendments extending a reduced excise tax rate on diesel fuel until the end of 2026, LSM reports. The diesel tax was lowered from EUR 467 to EUR 396 per 1,000 litres and for marked diesel fuel used in agriculture from EUR 70 to EUR 21 per 1,000 litres…
