17 minutes agoLatvia in political crisis é the prime minister resigns
Periskopi(2 months ago)
(2 months ago)Latvia's centre-right prime minister, Evicka Silina, announced on Thursday that she would resign from top office, effectively causing the collapse of the country's ruling coalition.
Latvia will face parliamentary elections in October. The departure comes after a series of heated domestic disputes after the country's left-wing defence minister, Andris Spruds, resigned Sunday.
The defence minister resigned after Ukrainian drones flew into the country's airspace from Russia last week and hit an oil storage facility, the recent change of defence leadership on NATO's eastern wing in recent months.
Silia, said she urged him to resign because this “indicates that the political leadership of the defence sector has failed to meet its safe heavenly promise on our country”.
Minister “has lost my confidence and that of the public”, she wrote on X, adding that she had asked Latvian Army Colonel Raivis Melnis, representative of the defence ministry in Ukraine, to replace him.
Two Ukrainian fears flew over the Russian border last Thursday and collapsed on Latvian soil, one of which exploded at an oil depot in eastern Latvia. According to Ukraine's Foreign Affairs Minister, Andri Syhbika, the fears were diverted by Russia's war. Latvia and Lithuania have called on NATO to strengthen air defence in their region after the incident.
Sprudes, a first-appointed academic in September 2023, said in a long post to X that he decided to step down “to protect the Latvian Army from involvement in a political campaign” and prevent critics from suspiciousing the <x2-fefty Ministry of Defence, National Armed Forces”.
In October, Romania and Lithuania's defence ministers were forced to resign because of political scandals amid their countries' re-arrmament, making Estonia the only Baltic country with a stable defence chief at the moment. Recent elections in Hungary and Bulgaria have also led to the arrival of new defence ministers.
Latvia is leading Ukraine's fearful coalition to help Kiev maintain supremacy in the fight with fear through sustainable supply and support for the production of fears in the West. The country is facing parliamentary elections in October.
