Summer storm sweeps through Baltics, killing one, injuring others
Attitude shift toward Ukraine refugees?
A powerful summer storm passed over the Baltic countries last the night between July 29 and 30, causing at least one death in Lithuania, damaging buildings, causing flooding and blocking road and rail traffic with fallen trees. Air traffic into Riga airport, a hub for the region was also disrupted because of high winds.
Local media reported that one person was killed by a falling tree in Lithuania. Emergency services in Latvia reported hundreds of calls asking for help clearing fallen trees and other debris. A few people were reported injured by falling trees and debris.
In the Latvian capital, the roof of the historic medieval Riga Cathedral was damaged by high winds and the mayor’s office ordered the nearby Dom Square, the center of Riga’s Old Town, closed to the public. Local media reported that buildings in Riga and other towns across the country suffered damage from high winds.
The recent summer storm had most intense rainfall and the fiercest winds in the history of the country's meteorological observations, according to the Environment, Geology and Meteorology Center of Latvia.
According to data since 1966, there are no other cases in the history of Latvian meteorological observations where storm-force wind gusts caused by an active low-pressure system rather than storm clouds were observed over such a large area during the summer months.
In addition to blocking roads and rail lines with fallen trees, debris and flood waters in some places, the storm also knocked out electrical power to as many as 160 000 households in Lithuania and some 30 000 electricity users in Latvia, though power was gradually restored during the day Monday.
Local authorities in Latvia on July 30 urged citizens to avoid unnecessary travel and to work from home if possible. In Riga, free public transport was offered to persons who presented an automobile registration card and left their vehicles at home. At the same time, local media reported that several tram and trolley bus line in the Latvian capital had been disrupted by the severe weather.
Toms Bricis, a meteorologist and chief weather forecast presenter for Latvia’s public service television, said the storm was “close to a tropical cyclone” in its intensity, especially in terms of rainfall.
Speaking on an early morning show, Bricis said the impact of the storm would be felt for several days after the rain and wind ended, as massive amounts of rainwater swept sewage and other pollutants into the Bay of Riga, likely causing beaches to be closed for swimming until the pollution dissipates.
In the days after the storm, social media were flooded with complaints that some insurers were refusing storm damage claims, among them claiming that some water damage was not covered by “flooding” as defined in the “small print” of their insurance contracts.
Repeat travel warning after four youths arrested in Belarus
Latvia’s Foreign Ministry on issued a repeated stern warning against travel to Belarus after confirming late Thursday that four young Latvian citizens attending a music festival had been detained earlier in the week. Local media reported that the four had been arrested on Monday allegedly for possession of marihuana
Four young Latvians travelling to Belarus to a music festival were arrested for alleged possesion of marihuana and are being held in a Belarussian jail. Image by DALL E AI.
Foreign Ministry press secretary Diana Eglīte said that it had been informed of the detention by relatives of the travelers but could not comment on what the persons detained had been charged with. Referring to the repeat warning against travel to Belarus, Eglīte said the lack of a rule of law in Belarus made it difficult to help the four young people or any other Latvian citizens held in Belarussian jails.
The Foreign Ministry spokesperson told Latvian Television last Thursday night that eight Latvian citizens had been detained in Belarus this year, and some 36 were being held on various charges in recent years.
In its repeated travel advisory, the Latvian Foreign Ministry noted that Belarus was aiding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and warned that “travelers may be subjected to provocations by Belarusian authorities and may be falsely accused of violating Belarusian laws and arrested as a result. Due to the lack of rule of law in Belarus, Latvia's opportunities to provide assistance to such persons are very limited.”
Baltic attitudes toward Ukrainian refugees shifting?
Public support for taking in Ukrainian refugees has dipped below 50 % in Latvia for the first time since the war began at the end of February 2022, a government-sponsored survey published August 5 showed.
According to the survey, a sample of just over 1000 persons in Latvia from various social, economic, age and ethnic groups showed 48 % totally or mainly supported taking in Ukrainian refugees, a drop from 60% in March and 52 % in November 2023.
Rait Custom Research Baltic, the survey company which did the research for Latvia’s State Chancellery, didn’t explain the fluctuations in attitudes toward refugees from Ukraine.
Polls in the other Baltic countries of Estonia and Lithuanian taken over the past year showed strong support for taking in Ukrainian refugees well above 50%. A poll last October showed 76% of Lithuanians support of accepting Ukrainian war refugees.
Data published by the Estonian Social Insurance Board in late July showed that 57 percent of Ukrainian refugees were employed during the first quarter of 2024, which is nearly 10 percentage points higher than a year earlier. Complaints about asylum seekers living on social benefits often generate negative attitudes, but that appears not to be the case in Estonia.
The poll on attitudes toward refugees from Ukraine was part of a much larger survey of political and social issues in Latvia that also showed continued significant but contradictory support for Ukraine on other issues such as European Union (EU) membership and on how the war should end.
According to the latest poll, 44% of those polled wholly or mainly supported Ukraine getting EU membership, down from 46 % in March and 50 % last November, but also showing a rise to 17% from 11 % of those undecided or uncertain on this issue.
Support for Ukraine joining NATO also dipped slightly to 45 % in June from 46 % in March and 51 % in November last year. Some 56 % of those polled in June said Ukraine and Russia should immediately begin peace talks aimed at compromises on ending the war, while 51 % at the same time favored continued western military aid to Ukraine until it drives Russian forces from its territory.
The same survey also showed only 21 % of those polled in Latvia believe that Ukraine should give up the territories currently occupied by Russia, including Crimea.
While the numbers of Ukrainian refugees in each of the Baltic countries fluctuate over time and with events on the battlefield, there are estimated to be well over 100 000 Ukrainians in all three Baltic countries.
Baltic ministers criticize looser Hungarian visas rule fo Russia and Belarus
Latvia’s Minister of Interior and Lithuania’s Foreign Minister have criticized Hungary’s decision to ease conditions for admitting travellers and guest workers from Russia and Belarus as a security risk to countries in the European Union (EU), local media reported July 30.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis told the Baltic News Service (BNS) that Hungary’s decision to ease travel by Russians and Belarussians “poses very serious security threats to the security of the Schengen area and many European countries, so it must be responded to at the EU level.”
In Latvia, the country’s Minister of Interior Rihards Kozlovskis told journalists that Hungary's decision to allow citizens of Russia and Belarus to enter the EU without security checks undoubtedly creates risks for Latvia's security.” He spoke after meeting with Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs.
Asked whether Latvia could increase border checks with other members of the Schengen zone (where persons admitted to Hungary could freely travel), Kozlovskis said that Latvia had increased border security only with Belarus, where increasing numbers of attempted border crossings by migrants had been prevented in recent days.
The Latvian interior minister said that he had been in contact with the State Security Service, the nation’s domestic intelligence and counter-intelligence service about possible threats from the changed visa rules in Hungary.
Landsbergis told BNS that while most European countries are looking for ways to effectively protect themselves from possible hybrid warfare attacks, Hungary not only hinders such efforts, but with its actions it also enables, or at least facilitates, the hostile behavior of adversary countries.
There have been reports in European media of efforts by Russian intelligence services to recruit persons to carry out acts of sabotage in NATO and EU countries that support Ukraine’s war effort against the Russian invasion.
Estonia has arrested several persons earlier this year for vandalizing a government official’s car and defacing monuments, while Latvia detained people allegedly incited by Russian agents to attempt to firebomb the Museum of Occupation in Riga, which has extensive exhibits on the Soviet and Nazi occupations of Latvia.
Politics on hold in Latvia
With Prime Minister Evika Siliņa on vacation and the parliament or Saeima in recess until September, the country will be in the political doldrums for at least the first half of August, barring some unexpected drama or a new weather event that exposes politicians to criticism. Something like that is already happening in Jūrmala, where building basements flooded because drainage ditches were replaced by the town authorities with pipes that didn’t handle the runoff.