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Nato must be ready for Russia launching an “existential” war against the Baltic states “masked by a blizzard of disinformation”, ambassadors from the three countries have warned. Writing exclusively for The Sunday Telegraph, the top diplomats to the UK from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania said that Russia could “pivot quickly” from Ukraine to invade the Baltic. And they said that Vladimir Putin’s brutalisation of Ukraine is evoking the three countries’ “darkest memories” of occupation under Stalin. The Estonian ambassador Viljar Lubi, the Latvian ambassador Ivita Burmistre, and Lithuania’s charge d’affaire Lina Zigmantaite, wrote the joint article to mark Friday’s 20...

Microplastics! They're in everything, from our bodies to the ocean. And apparently they're even found in sediment layers that date back as early as the first half of the 1700s, showing microplastics' pernicious ability to infiltrate even environments untouched by modern humans. A team of European researchers made this alarming discovery after studying the sediment layers at three lakes in Latvia, as detailed in a study published in the journal Science Advances. Scientists have long used layers of ash or ice to study past events on Earth, leading to the question of whether microplastics can serve as a reliable chronological...

Russian police have put Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, Lithuania's culture minister and members of the previous Latvian parliament on a wanted list, according to the Russian Interior Ministry's database. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Kallas was wanted for the "desecration of historical memory". Russian state agency TASS said the Baltic officials were accused of "destroying monuments to Soviet soldiers", acts that are punishable by a 5-year prison term under the Russian criminal code. -snip- Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said: "This is only the beginning." "Crimes against the memory of the world's liberators from Nazism and fascism must...

MOSCOW, January 17. /TASS/. Present-day events in the Baltic countries, including the ongoing deportation of Russians from Latvia, affect Russia’s security, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with heads of Russian municipalities. "The events that are taking place in Latvia and other Baltic countries now, when the Russian people are being thrown out, are very serious and directly affect the security of our country," he said. The Latvian authorities have sent repeated letters threatening to deport 985 Russians who failed to meet the requirement to obtain a residence permit in the country, the LTV TV channel reported with...

VILNIUS, Lithuania — The Biden administration is urging U.S. citizens in Belarus to depart the country immediately and warned against travel there in a statement published Monday. The updated travel warning comes after bordering countries Lithuania, Latvia and Poland have stepped up security along the border over concerns about Russian Wagner mercenary forces exiled in the country. The State Department, in its warning, encouraged Americans still in Belarus to depart the country immediately and categorized the country as a Level 4 risk, the highest security warning.

The flight of money from Egypt has become a growing concern as many wealthy individuals seek to move money out of Egypt and keep their fortunes out of the eyes of the authorities. The Zambian Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) intercepted an aircraft carrying five million dollars in cash and over 100kg of suspected gold at Kenneth Kaunda International Airport near the capital Lusaka on August 14, according to several sources. Found on the plane were $5,697,700 in cash, five pistols, seven magazines, 126 rounds of ammunition, 602 pieces of suspected gold weighing 127.7 kg, and equipment for measuring gold. Later,...

Latvia's Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs (PMLP) will send letters in September to six thousand Russian citizens, requesting them to leave the country. According to LSM, Ingmārs Līdaka, the Chairman of the Seimas Commission on Citizenship, Migration, and Social Cohesion, stated that this concerns those who haven't even attempted to pass the examination for obtaining the status of a permanent EU resident. "Roughly 5,000 to 6,000, according to my estimates. These are people who have shown no desire – neither to take the exam nor obtain a temporary residence permit. These are the silent ones. If we look at...

Latvia's Parliament on Wednesday elected former foreign minister Edgars Rinkevics as President, making him the first openly gay person to hold the position in any country."I am honoured and humbled to be elected as President of the Republic of Latvia, I will do my best to serve the people of Latvia well," Rinkevics tweeted following the vote.While not the first openly gay head of state, Rinkevics's election marks yet another milestone for LGBTQ+ politicians.Rinkevics came out in 2014, signaling on Twitter his support for a "legal framework for all types of partnerships."In coming out, Rinkevics became the first openly LGBTQ+...

NICOSIA – Nearly a half-century after Turkish invasions seized the northern third of the island – where it keeps some 35,000 troops still – Cyprus’ new President Nicos Christoulides said more will be spent on defense. He said that 2 percent of the Gross Domestic Product of 26.42 billion euros ($28.41 billion) – about 52.8 million euros ($56.77 million) would be spent on the Armed Forces in different areas. That comes as the United States is lifting a decades-long arms embargo that held down Cypriot defense while Turkey was buying American arms without conditions and has a huge military advantage...

On this date in 1573, the Swedish commander of Weissenstein (present-day Paide, Estonia), Hans Boije af Gennäs was executed when his fortress was overrun by Russian troops, during the Livonian War. A walled city with a Teutonic Knights-built keep, Weissenstein sat at a crossroads in interior Livonia and changed hands several times during this decades-long multilateral conflict involving Russia, Sweden, Denmark-Norway, Poland, and Lithuania — the latter two of which united into a Commonwealth during the war. Big picture, the Livonian War ran from 1558 to 1583; the stakes were, as one might guess, control of Livonia — essentially, the...

The United Nations General Assembly's first committee, which deals with disarmament, global challenges, and threats to peace that affect the international community, voted 152-5, on Friday, on a resolution concerning "the risk of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East". The resolution states that Israel must dispose of all its nuclear weapons and place its nuclear sites under the International Atomic Energy Agency's purview. The resolution, which is submitted every year to the UNGA in New York, was submitted by Egypt and sponsored by the Palestinian Authority and 19 counties including Bahrain, Jordan, Morocco, and the United Arab Emirates. Canada, Israel,...

The leaders of nine NATO nations from Central and Eastern Europe issued a joint statement on Sunday in support of Ukraine's path to membership in the alliance. "We firmly stand behind the 2008 Bucharest NATO Summit decision concerning Ukraine’s future membership," the presidents of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, Poland, Czechia, Romania, North Macedonia, and Slovakia said on Sunday. At that 2008 summit, NATO allies said they "welcomed" Ukraine and Georgia's aspirations to the join the alliance, though no clear timetable has ever been announced.

Exclusive Europe will respond to Russia's nuclear strike if it is struck – Latvian Defense Minister Latvia condemns countries that do not provide Ukraine with military and technical assistance in the fight against Russia. This was stated by Latvian Defense Minister Artis Pabriks in an exclusive interview with the Present Time within the framework of the Riga Conference. He believes that a clear position and assistance to Kiev now will determine alliances and cooperation between European countries in the future. Pabriks, in particular, accused those countries that do not count on Ukraine's victory in this war of betraying the ideals...

NEW YORK (AP) — As winter nears, European nations, desperate to replace the natural gas they once bought from Russia, have embraced a short-term fix: A series of roughly 20 floating terminals that would receive liquefied natural gas from other countries and convert it into heating fuel. Yet the plan, with the first floating terminals set to deliver natural gas by year’s end, has raised alarms among scientists who fear the long-term consequences for the environment. Some scientists say they worry that the floating terminals will end up becoming a long-term supplier of Europe’s vast energy needs that could last...

A concrete obelisk topped by Soviet stars that was the centerpiece of a monument commemorating the Red Army’s victory over Nazi Germany has been taken down in Latvia’s capital of Riga COPENHAGEN, Denmark — A concrete obelisk topped by Soviet stars that was the centerpiece of a monument commemorating the Red Army’s victory over Nazi Germany was taken down Thursday in Latvia's capital — the latest in a series of Soviet monuments brought down after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Heavy machinery was spotted behind a green privacy fence at the foot of the nearly 80-meter (260-foot) obelisk shortly before it...

An obelisk with Soviet stars at the top that was the centrepiece of a monument commemorating the Red Army's victory over Nazi Germany has been toppled in the Latvian capital. (Aug. 25)

Latvia and Estonia have withdrawn from a cooperation framework between China and over a dozen Central and Eastern European countries on Thursday, following in the footsteps of Lithuania which withdrew last May. The move comes during Western criticism towards China for escalating military pressure on Taiwan, a democratically-ruled island that China claims as its own territory. “Past participation in the 16+1 format has not yielded the desired economic results,” Latvia’s Foreign Ministry told Reuters. Relations between Lithuania and China worsened after the Baltic nation allowed Taiwan to open a de facto embassy late last year. “Latvia’s continued participation in the...

Russian gas producer Gazprom said on Saturday it had stopped supplying gas to EU member state Latvia, accusing it of violating conditions for gas withdrawal. "Today, Gazprom suspended its gas supplies to Latvia... due to violations of the conditions" of purchase, the company said on Telegram. It was not specified which withdrawal condition had been violated. The move comes a day after Latvian energy firm Latvijas Gaze said it was buying gas from Russia and paying in euros rather than in rubles. In March Russian President Vladimir Putin said countries deemed unfriendly to Moscow would have to pay for gas...

Member states of both NATO and the European Union, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have repeatedly called on NATO to provide a substantial increase in the number of foreign troops stationed in the region following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24. The Baltic countries have also pushed for an urgent update to the alliance’s so-called “tripwire” approach. That’s because, under NATO’s existing strategy, Estonia’s Prime Minister Kaja Kallas has warned that the former Soviet state and its historic capital city of Tallinn would be “wiped off the map” in the event of a Russian attack, according to The Financial Times....

WASHINGTON (AP) — Western weaponry pouring into Ukraine helped blunt Russia’s initial offensive and seems certain to play a central role in the approaching, potentially decisive, battle for Ukraine’s contested Donbas region. Yet the Russian military is making little headway halting what has become a historic arms express. The U.S. numbers alone are mounting: more than 12,000 weapons designed to defeat armored vehicles, some 1,400 shoulder-fired Stinger missiles to shoot down aircraft and more than 50 million rounds of ammunition, among many other things. Dozens of other nations are adding to the totals. The Biden administration is preparing yet...