Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda does not expect the country’s three-party coalition government to survive, BNS reports. Earlier, Remigijus Zemaitaitis, chairman of the far-right Dawn of Nemunas party, expressed doubts about raising defence spending and labelled Ukraine a corrupt country, LRT reported. Speaking in an interview with Verslo Zinios, Nauseda accused Zemaitaitis of discrediting “not only…
Ukraine will remain the number one priority of Estonia’s foreign policy for as long as the war continues, Jonatan Vseviov, secretary general of Estonia’s Foreign Ministry, said, ERR reports. If Ukraine manages to survive winter 2024-2025, then spring-summer 2025 could be easier, he suggested. Estonia will never accept changes to European borders through military aggression,…
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda called for a quick review of restrictions on the export of dual-use goods, BNS reports. Earlier, Economy Minister Lukas Savickas proposed relaxing the restrictions urgently. The previous government banned the export by air of several goods that Russia could use in its war against Ukraine to most third countries. Speaking in…
The prolonged war in Ukraine has forced Europe to wake up to the threat that Russia poses, Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna told The Kyiv Independent. He pointed to a “change of mentality,” a realisation that Russia is an aggressive country and will remain a threat, and that Europe can actually fight back. Nevertheless, too…
Latvia has taken over the presidency of the Baltic Council of Ministers (BCM) for 2025, LSM reports. The focus of the Latvian presidency will be on regional security and resilience, support for Ukraine, regional connectivity, energy security, and investments, the Latvian Foreign Ministry stated. Latvia would pay special attention to external borders, civil protection and…
Several media outlets from Russia moved their editorial offices to Latvia after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, LSM reports. Latvia has since issued over 6,000 visas to Russian citizens, of whom 500 are journalists and their family members. Dace Melbarde, parliamentary secretary at Latvia’s Foreign Ministry, said that giving Russian journalists an…
Ukraine did not use Estonian airspace in its latest drone attack against Russia’s port of Ust-Luga in the Leningrad region, according to the Estonian Air Force (Õhuvägi), ERR reports. Aivar Hanniotti, coordinator of UAV operations at the Estonian Defence League (Kaitseliit), said that the flight path of the attack drone likely started from Ukraine’s Kyiv…
Raising Lithuania’s defence spending to 4% of GDP would allow the country’s new army division to reach full operational capacity by 2030, Lithuania’s defence chief, General Raimundas Vaiksnoras, stated, Baltic News Network reports. Lithuania’s new government has increased its borrowing limit for 2025 by around EUR 800mn. The full amount would raise the defence budget…
Lithuania’s new government plans to ease export controls on dual-use goods, LRT reports. Economy Minister Lukas Savickas said that the previous government had imposed the restrictions without consulting businesses first. He insisted that the restrictions must not harm exporters of high-tech products and should only be imposed if companies violate existing sanctions. An industry representative…