Contents tagged with Latvia

  • Latvia detects Russian warships near its territorial waters

    The Latvian National Armed Forces has detected Russian warships in its economic zone.

    "In the Latvian economic zone, at a distance of 20 nautical miles from the state border, armed forces detected a Russian warship of the Steregushchiy class, a submarine technical support vessel of Kashtan class and the Kilo class submarine," this was stated in a message on the Armed Forces of Latvia’s Twitter page.

    It is worth noting that NATO counted 250 recent interceptions of Russian military aircraft in …

  • Baltic States expect a larger NATO presence

    The Baltic States are expecting an expansion of NATO troops on their territory, as was stated by the head of the Latvian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Edgars Rinkēvičs.

    In July, at the NATO Summit in Warsaw, the Baltic States will need a “very strong statement” from the alliance that “will stay there until as long as we’ve got such a neighbor [Russia],” he said in an interview with the Washington Post.

    According to the Minister, he “is convinced that the NATO Military Contingent staying in the …

  • Russian plane violated Lithuanian airspace twice last week

    The press service of the Ministry of Defense of Lithuania reported that Lithuanian fighters intercepted a Russian aircraft on two separate occassions last week.

    On February 17th, fighter jets were scrambled from the Siauliai Airbase to intercept a Russia IL-20 transport plane heading for Kaliningrad. Two days later, the same aircraft was intercepted and esorted by Lithuanian fighters on its way back to mainland Russia.

    According to the Ministry of Defense of Lithuania, the Russian IL-20 …

  • Russian paratroopers to hold large-scale exercise near Latvian and Estonian borders

    Russian airborne troops will hold a large-scale exercise in the Pskov region near the Estonian and Latvian borders, as reported by Radio Svoboda. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the exercises will be held from the 15th to the 20th of February, and will involve 2,500 paratroopers and 300 pieces of military hardware.

    The announcement comes after last week’s surprise inspection of Russia’s Southern Military District and subsequent training exercises in southern Russia and the Crimea, …