Contents tagged with Latvia
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Baltic states agreed to increase their defense budgets
Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia intend to increase their defense budgets to more than 2 percent of the Gross Domestic Product. The Defense Ministers of the three countries agreed to this in their joint communique after the meeting in Vilnius on Saturday, November 24. DW reports that the document envisions cooperation in strategic communication between the Baltic States and Poland, and increasing the cyber security of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
During the two-day meeting that took place in …
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Latvia condemns the blockade of the Azov Sea by Russia
The blockade of the Azov Sea is another proof of Russia's consistent destructive regional policy. Russia continues aggression in the Donbas and does nothing to de-escalate the conflict, said Latvian President Raimonds Vējonis at a joint briefing with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Kyiv, Ukrinform reported.
"Latvia strongly condemns Russian aggression in Donbas. Unfortunately, Moscow does not take any steps to de-escalate the conflict. The blockade of the Sea of Azov is another proof …
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Latvia intends to open a consulate in the Donetsk region
Latvia plans to open a consulate in the Donetsk region, stated Donetsk Governor Oleksandr Kuts following a meeting between the Parliamentary Secretary at The Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Latvia and the leadership of the Donetsk regional state administration.
Representatives of the National Guard and National Armed Forces of Latvia that were part of the delegation said that they came to learn from Ukraine’s managerial and military experience gained from years of resistance to Russian …
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Latvia detects Russian warship near its shores
The Latvian National Armed Forces reported that on Saturday, November 3, a Russian warship was spotted in the exclusive economic zone of Latvia. "On November 3, in the Latvian exclusive economic zone at a distance of 13 nautical miles from the territorial waters, the Latvian Naval Forces have identified an support ship of the SS-750 class Kashtan submarine of the Russian Armed Forces”, stated the report.
This is not the first such case. In October, the Russian Federation warship of the …
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Latvia accuses Russia of cyber attacks
Latvia’s Constitution Protection Bureau reported that Russian military intelligence service GRU has attempted to gain access to the Latvian government's information using phishing attacks against their computer networks.
"The cyber attacks in Latvia were carried out by the GRU for the espionage purposes. The most frequent attacks were directed against state institutions, including the defense and foreign affairs sectors," said the statement.
Less commonly, the GRU attacks were aimed at the …
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President of the European Council: Russia undermines everything possible in Europe
“Under the leadership of President Vladimir Putin, Russia poses a serious threat to the European Union’s unity," said President of the European Council Donald Tusk, DW reports.
“Our problem is that Russia undermines everything possible in Europe. I can provide numerous examples to prove that Russians will stop at nothing to weaken European unity," Tusk stated. He added that there was “clear evidence of Russia’s intervention in the campaign during the referendum on Brexit, and also in the …
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Latvia detects Russian warship near its coast
A Russian warship was detected not far from the coast of Latvia, in the exclusive economic zone, reported the press service of the National Armed Forces of Latvia on Twitter. The incident occurred on Saturday, October 6th.
“On October 6th, in the exclusive economic zone of Latvia, at a distance of 14 nautical miles from the state border, the Russian Steregushchiy class ship was detected,” reported the Latvian military.
This is not the first such occurrence. In September of last year, in the …
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Latvian counterintelligence warns against opening KGB archives
The Constitution Protection Bureau (counterintelligence agency of Latvia) sent a letter to the Parliamentary Commission on Human Rights and Public Affairs and warned that the publication of the former KGB of the Latvian SSR – the so-called bags of the Cheka – will give an easy win to the countries that are not very friendly to Latvia, the Delfi news agency reports.
The Constitution Protection Bureau (SAB) believed that the publication of the KGB archives on the Internet can create various …
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Latvia approves purchase of four Black Hawk helicopters from the US
On Tuesday, September 11, the Latvian government supported the purchase of four UH-60 Black Hawk medium-lift utility helicopters for 175 million euros and the signing of an intergovernmental agreement with the United States, the Latvian Ministry of Defense reported. This came after the US government approved the sale of the helicopters to Latvia.
According to the Delfi news agency, the government decided to add additional funding of about 80 million euros to the Ministry of Defense’s budget …
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Russian submarine approaches Latvian border
A Russian submarine came close to Latvia’s borders on September 11, the Latvian National Armed Forces posted on Twitter.
According to the tweet, the Russian Navy’s Dmitrov submarine (NATO classification: “Kilo”) was spotted three nautical miles outside of Latvia’s territorial waters.
At the start of May, the Russian Navy’s SB-121 and Kashtan ships were spotted 12 nautical miles from Latvia’s territorial waters. A large project 775 landing ship (NATO classification: Ropucha) was also seen six …