The traditional annual informal consultations between the foreign ministries of Lithuania and Latvia were held on August 26, 2024. The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania, Gabrielius Landsbergis, and Latvia, Baiba Braže, and experts discussed various topics, including security and defence, the outcomes of the NATO summit, the implementation of its decisions, the situation in Ukraine, support for Ukraine’s combat capabilities, and a strategy for containing Russia. They also addressed current developments in the EU, its enlargement process, and bilateral, regional, and international cooperation within the EU, NATO, the UN, and other formats.
On the same day, the Ministers visited the Adutiškis border crossing point to discuss the protection of the European Union’s external borders and cooperation in strengthening regional security. General Rustamas Liubajevas, Commander of the State Border Guard Service, and General Guntis Pujāts, Chief of Latvia’s State Border Guard, presented the infrastructure for protecting the EU’s external borders and the situation at the external borders in the region. Staff from the national border guard authorities and the Ministries of Foreign Affairs delegations discussed daily challenges, particularly related to the enforcement of EU sanctions against Russia and Belarus.
“This is where our collective defence and security commitments begin. It is here that the continuous fight against the increasingly threatening hybrid attacks from the Kremlin and the Lukashenko regimes takes place, and the instrumentalisation of illegal migration is among those attacks,” Landsbergis said after the meeting.
According to Landsbergis, the hybrid attacks are a ruthless reminder of the threat that authoritarian regimes pose to the democratic order and democracy as a way of life in EU countries.
“To protect them, Lithuania, Latvia, and our other allies must remain vigilant and united and come to each other’s aid without delay if necessary. When dictators across the border started sending illegal migrants to Lithuania, Latvia lent a helping hand. Our Border Guard team is already working at the Latvian border,” Landsbergis said.
“Lithuania is our neighbour and friend and we will continue strengthening our cooperation towards an even more effective coordination of information sharing and an even more rapid response. Together with Lithuania, we are guarding not only the external border of our countries but also that of the EU and NATO, and we are now fighting common threats – including hybrid threats from Russia, the instrumentalisation of migration, intense sabotage cases, and circumvention of sanctions, aimed at destabilising EU countries,” emphasised Foreign Minister Baiba Braže. “We had an in-depth discussion on issues and regional cooperation in protecting the EU-NATO eastern border,” added Braže.
The foreign ministers also discussed the geopolitical situation in the region, the need to increase military support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s aggression, Russia’s accountability as the aggressor and its accomplice Belarus, and infrastructure projects.
“We put every effort into increasing military support for Ukraine, ensuring that negotiations on Ukraine’s membership in the European Union move forward confidently, and taking significant steps towards Ukraine’s membership in NATO. By tightening sanctions against Russia and its accomplice Belarus, we aim to isolate them further. Today, Lithuanian and Latvian diplomats have discussed how to achieve these goals more effectively,” Landsbergis said.
“Ukraine has been and will remain our common priority, and we will continue through all possible channels and formats – the Baltic States and the Nordic countries (NB8), the EU, NATO, the UN and others – to advocate support for Ukraine until its victory on the battlefield,” underlined Braže.
“In parallel, work needs to be done on a strategy to contain Russia, which includes a coordinated EU-wide effort on the next rounds of EU sanctions against Russia and Belarus and the alignment of sanctions, as well as the action by Member States to ensure an effective implementation of the existing sanctions and prevent them from being circumvented,” noted Braže.
