Danger in the Baltics: The Threat from Russia | DW Reporter

Nov 30, 2025 | In Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, Russia's proximity shapes everyday life. While NATO is increasing its troop numbers, people are trying to maintain normality — with family celebrations, running businesses, and a belief in peace. Farmers like Andzejs Petkevics are harvesting their last potatoes under the shadow of increased border controls and military presence. In Lithuania, Birute Krakasuskiene runs a kebab shop, where her regular customers are soldiers from the country's largest NATO base. And on the Estonian island of Hiiumaa, Ave Ungro is involved in the women's civil defense force to be prepared for an emergency. But the question remains: How do you live in the crosshairs? A film about fear, hope, and everyday life on Europe's most sensitive border.

A Baltic Warning: What Ukraine War Means for Europe—and the Russian Perspective

Mar 1, 2025 | On the GZERO World Podcast, we're bringing you two starkly different views on Ukraine's future and European security. First, Ian Bremmer speaks with Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braže about the growing security threats facing the Baltics—from cyberattacks and disinformation to undersea sabotage in the Baltic Sea. When an oil tanker linked to Russia’s shadow fleet recently severed a vital power cable between Estonia and Finland, it was a stark reminder of how hybrid warfare is playing out beyond the battlefield. Braže warns that Putin’s ambitions extend far beyond Ukraine, aiming to weaken US alliances and destabilize Europe. She also pushes back against claims that Ukraine's NATO ambitions provoked the war, calling them “complete nonsense,” and outlines why Latvia is boosting its defense spending to 5% of GDP.

The conversation then shifts to Moscow, where Bremmer speaks with former Russian colonel and ex-Carnegie Moscow Center director Dmitri Trenin. Once considered a pro-Western voice, Trenin’s views now align closely with the Kremlin. He argues that the fate of Ukraine should be decided primarily by Russia and the United States—not Ukraine or Europe.

Host: Ian Bremmer
Guest: Baiba Braže & Dmitri Trenin

'Trump Has Thrown Ukraine under a Tank' | Latvian MEP Rihards Kols

Feb 14, 2025 | “Ukraine has to be at the table, not on the table.”

Latvian MEP Rihards Kols calls for a Casablanca conference as Ukraine has been “thrown under the tank” by Trump.

The Baltic States in Putin's Shadow | DW Documentary

Aug 16, 2024 | The Baltic states regained independence more than 30 years ago. Now, Russia has them looking over their shoulder, again. Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine has left many people wondering whether Russia will set its power-hungry sights on the Baltic states, once more.

"There’s only one enemy and that’s Russia," says Estonian national Ain Tähiste, summing up his views on the issue in a sentence: "Latvia, Finland, Sweden - and on the Baltic Sea Poland, Germany, Denmark," he continues, "they’re all friends, but not the Russian neighbor.” "It’s naïve to think Russia’s far away," he adds.

Ain Tähiste guides the reporter team through the military museum on Hiiumaa. The Estonian island in the west of the country was off-limits to tourists during Soviet rule, because its location on the Baltic Sea made it strategically important to Moscow. Since the start of the Russian war on Ukraine, Estonia has removed old Soviet monuments form public spaces and banished some of them to museums. "The Soviet Union occupied Estonia in 1940," Ain explains. "Are we still expected to pay our respects to the troops that occupied us? No, it was high time this happened!”

22-year-old Matthias Merelaine is from Tallinn and has no direct experience of the Soviet era. He’s nevertheless preoccupied by the question of whether Russia will try to return to the Baltics. "We’d be ready," he says, "to go to the front, weapon in hand, to fight the enemy and defend the homeland."

National guards are booming in Baltic nations - including Lithuania. Paulus Jurkus, son of a fisher from Kleipėda, says he wouldn’t run away, if attacked. The only port city in Lithuania, his home is not far from the border with the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad.

This new aversion to Russians is also omnipresent in Latvia. Lauris Aleksevejs is a top chef in Latvia’s traditional seaside resort of Jurmala. The Russians used to be big spenders at Lauris’ restaurant. And since Latvia closed its borders to Russians, his income has nosedived. But he refuses to do business with the enemy.

First Same-sex Couple Registers Partnership in Latvia | REUTERS

Jul 1, 2024 | 🌈 Maksims Ringo and Janis Locs became the first Latvian same-sex couple to register their partnership, shortly after midnight when a new law came into force.

Latvia Is First Country to Reimpose Lockdown in Europe’s New Covid Wave

THE GUARDIAN: Baltic state once seen as coronavirus success story announces month of restrictions including curfew

The prime minister, Krišjānis Kariņš, blamed Latvia’s low vaccination rate for the surge in hospital admissions.Photograph: Reuters
Latvia has announced a month-long Covid-19 lockdown after an unprecedented surge in infections, becoming the first country in Europe to reimpose far-reaching restrictions amid a new wave of cases in countries across the continent.

The Baltic country has one of the highest rates of new Covid cases relative to population in the world, according to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), after successfully keeping the virus at bay for months.

“Our health system is in danger … The only way out of this crisis is to get vaccinated,” the prime minister, Krišjānis Kariņš, said on Monday evening at an emergency government meeting. He said the country’s low vaccination rate was to blame for the surge in hospital admissions. » | Pjotr Sauer in Moscow | Wednesday, October 20, 2021

Ein Lockdown als «Brandschneise»: Lettland versucht die vierte Covid-19-Welle in den Griff zu bekommen: In den baltischen Staaten wächst die Sorge vor einer übermächtigen vierten Covid-19-Welle. Lettland verhängt für die Dauer eines Monats einen drastischen Lockdown. Auch in Estland und Litauen steigt angesichts einer vergleichsweise tiefen Impfquote die Nervosität. »

Jewish Survivor Zelda-Rivka Hait Testimony

Latvian Politician 'Praised Nazi Shooting of Gays'

Ms Priede represents the Kandava district in western Latvia

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Inga Priede, member of Latvia's ruling Unity party, resigns after tweeting "Thank God! The Germans shot them in their time" about homosexuals in same-sex marriage debate

Latvia's ruling party has been forced to distance itself from comments by one of its members which appeared to praise the Nazi extermination of homosexuals.

Inga Priede, a member of the Unity party, has resigned after making the comments in a Twitter discussion on Monday night about same-sex marriage legislation.

“Thank God! The Germans shot them in their time. Birth rate was going up," wrote Ms Priede.

She wrote that Latvian citizens in rural areas were "in shock" about the possibility of same-sex marriage legislation being introduced, and that homosexuals living in these regions were "not proud" of their sexuality because "there are basic values". » | Andrew Marszal | Wednesday, Decembrer 03, 2014