#LATVIA

Poland will boost the number of its troops stationed in Latvia as the two countries look to invest in the arms industry together, Poland’s defense minister has said.

Smugglers in Latvia have been caught trying to transport people across the border illegally using a minibus made to look like a public transport vehicle, Latvian media reported.

Latvia has sent 1,500 drones to Ukraine as part of an international Drone Coalition aimed at ensuring Ukraine’s supremacy over Russia with UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles).

Latvia has detained an Estonian and a Ukrainian citizen suspected of spying, including gathering intelligence on critical infrastructure sites, domestic media reported.

The president of Latvia has said that countries in Europe should introduce conscription and raise defense spending, adding that the continent is currently “quite weak”.

The independent film “Flow” won the Best Animated Feature Oscar on Sunday, securing the first Academy Award for Latvia and its Latvian director, Gints Zilbalodis.

Latvian MPs want to ban tourism services offering trips to Russia and Belarus, arguing citizens could be put at risk.

Latvia plans to raise its defense spending to 5% of GDP by 2028, its president, Edgars Rinkēvičs, said on Tuesday amid fears of aggression by Russia, the country’s giant eastern neighbor.

Lithuania, along with Nordic and Baltic nations, is set to begin work this year on developing a Ukrainian brigade as part of a long-term initiative to train and equip Ukrainian forces, a senior Lithuanian official said on Tuesday.

Five EU member states impacted by difficult weather conditions in 2024 will receive €98.6 million from the European Commission to help repair the damage.

The number of Latvians changing their names to distance themselves from Slavic origins has surged since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, according to data from the country’s Justice Ministry.

The Latvian government has pledged at least 4% of the country’s GDP to defense next year, with plans to raise it to 5% in the following years.

Lithuania will send a civilian van converted into a mobile drone repair station to aid the Ukrainian military in its war with Russia, Latvian media reported on Wednesday.

Two 12-year-old boys were shot dead in Latvia’s capital Riga on Friday evening.

Swedish soldiers have officially joined NATO troops in Latvia as part of the Scandinavian country’s first mission as a member of the military alliance, which it joined last March.

A Norwegian cargo ship with an all-Russian crew suspected of damaging a Baltic Sea telecoms cable has been released by authorities in Norway after no link to the incident was found, the police said late on Friday.

The Latvian government has approved plans to spend an extra €200 million on air defenses amid fears of Russian aggression.

Swedish authorities have stopped a ship after fiber-optic cables beneath the Baltic Sea were damaged.

A Latvian naval vessel was sent to inspect a suspect vessel.

A lo-fi animated movie from Latvia about a black cat navigating a post-apocalyptic world has stunned the film world after being nominated for two Oscars.