Latest Articles about Baltics
“Eagle Guardian” and the Strange Case of the Leak Without Legs (Part One)
For more than a month the media was full of accounts of the latest revelations from WikiLeaks broadcasting US diplomatic cables to the world. The international speculation about the ramifications of the world reading US classified diplomatic traffic gave birth to a media frenzy and... MORE
Russia Targeting Oil Assets in Poland and Lithuania
On October 30, Poland announced its intention to privatize the state-owned majority stake in the country’s second-largest oil industry concern, Lotos Group. The Polish government is inviting interested parties to pre-tender talks on the Lotos Group. The government has already talked with the Russian government... MORE
Blast Reminds the EU of Moldova-Balkans Gas Transit Pipeline
Deliveries of Russian natural gas to Balkan countries via Ukraine and Moldova are down by approximately one half, following the April 1 explosion on the transit pipeline in Moldova. The blast is attributed to a landslide that followed days of heavy rain. It crushed the... MORE
Lithuania Refuses To Acquiesce in EU Negotiations with Russia
The European Union announced the start of negotiations on a new, expanded partnership agreement with Russia at a summit in Nice on November 14. Following Russia’s invasion of Georgia and within days of threatening to target missiles at EU member countries allied to the United... MORE
BALTIC SEA COUNTRIES’ SUMMIT FACES ENERGY SECURITY CHALLENGES
The Council of Baltic Sea Countries, the main cooperation forum of the Baltic’s nine riparian countries plus Norway, Iceland and the European Commission, held a summit at the prime-ministerial level on June 3 and 4 in Riga. Despite the ample advance notice for this event,... MORE
NATO CREATES CYBER DEFENSE CENTER IN ESTONIA
On May 15 in Brussels, top military commanders from seven NATO countries and the Allied Command Transformation signed an agreement to create a Cooperative Cyber Defense Center. The center is to be located in Tallinn as an acknowledgement of Estonia’s role in launching this initiative... MORE
VILNIUS ENERGY SUMMIT INSTITUTIONALIZING A PROCESS
Presidents and other top officials from the three Baltic states, Poland, Ukraine, Romania, Georgia, and Azerbaijan, joined by EU and U.S. officials, attended the Energy Security Conference on October 10-11 in Vilnius. It was the third event of this type, after the energy summits in... MORE
ESTONIA WILL NOT ALLOW THE NORD STREAM PIPELINE ON ITS SEABED
Estonia's government has turned down the Russo-German company Nord Stream's request to survey the seabed off the Estonian coast. The survey was to precede the construction of the Russian gas pipeline on the Baltic seabed to Germany for Gazprom. The Estonian coalition government took the... MORE
NORD STREAM PROJECT: BILATERAL RUSSO-GERMAN, NOT EUROPEAN
The publics in the Baltic states and Poland generally feel that Moscow and Berlin or interested German circles -- have unjustifiably consorted over the heads of countries situated between Russia and Germany to launch the bilateral gas pipeline project, Nord Stream. At the same time... MORE
BALTIC STATES CLOSE RANKS WITH GEORGIA, JOIN U.S. TO INVESTIGATE MISSILE INCIDENT
The Baltic states spoke out on Georgia from day one of the crisis triggered by the Russian missile drop on that country. On August 7, Latvian Minister of Foreign Affairs Artis Pabriks “strongly condemned the violation of Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.” Pabriks assured his... MORE