Lithuania’s Finance Minister, Kristupas Vaitiekunas, urged the EU to pursue negotiations and prepare retaliatory measures after US President Donald Trump again threatened to raise tariffs, BNS reports. He predicted that the EU would be “in this game” through Trump’s entire term in office. “This process involving tariffs, negotiations, and pressure from both sides will be…
Latvia’s Riga Fertilizer Terminal (RFT) has again asked the country’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FID) for a waver on EU sanctions in order to resume operations, LSM reports. RFT pledged to isolate the company’s majority owner, sanctioned Russian oligarch Dmitry Mazepin, from the company’s management and profits. However, Latvia’s State Security Service (VDD) pointed out that…
Turkey’s ARCA Defense Industry will open an ammunition plant in Estonia’s Ida-Virumaa county, ERR reports. The new factory in Kiviõli will produce various types of ammunition, including artillery ammunition, mortar rounds, rockets, and shells, initially for export only. Estonia’s Defence Ministry said that the facility would begin producing ammunition for the Estonian Defence Forces in…
The US has warned European allies, including Estonia and Lithuania, of long delays in the delivery of US weapons due to the Iran war, the Financial Times reports. Reuters reported on the delays earlier. The US Department of Defence told to expect serious delays for several missile systems, including HIMARS and NASAMS used by Estonia…
Estonia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs plans to nominate Hannes Hanso as the country’s new ambassador to the United States, ERR reports. He would replace Kristjan Prikk, who has been appointed to the post of Estonia’s ambassador to NATO. Currently, Hanso is Estonia’s ambassador to China, Mongolia, Thailand, and Vietnam. Previously, he has served as defence…
Political leaders in the Baltic States criticised US President Donald Trump’s recent remarks that he could pull the US out of NATO. Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said that such suggestions were “harmful even if not acted upon,” ERR reported. He insisted that NATO benefited both Europe and the US, warning that all allies would…
Authorities in Latvia and Lithuania have opened investigations into information in documents related to the convicted US sex trafficker, Jeffrey Epstein. The documents contain hundreds of references to Latvia and Lithuania, including indications that Epstein’s associates had recruited young women and children for sexual exploitation through local modelling agencies, LETA and LRT reported. Latvia’s State…
Lithuanian officials have been making public statements recently suggesting a possible rapprochement in relations with neighbouring Belarus, only to retract their remarks afterwards, LRT reports. Observers say that the comments may be an attempt to test whether Lithuanian public opinion on Belarus is changing. Officials have suggested opening talks with Belarus and easing sanctions imposed…
Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene criticised the previous government’s decision to allow Taiwan to open a de facto embassy in Vilnius, BNS reports. She said that Lithuania “jumped in front of the train and lost” when it allowed Taiwan to open the representative office without coordinating the move with the EU and the US. Ruginiene…