Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina has resigned following an incident involving Ukrainian drones targeting Russia. Although media propaganda (for instance, BBC), insists that those drones “strayed” over Latvian territory, we know that NATO countries have used Latvia, together with the two other Baltic states and Kazakhstan, as “safe zones” to reach Russian territory undetected. This has prompted Moscow to “cross the Rubicon” and go for escalation, Scott Ritter at the recent IPC meeting.
The fact that the Defense minister was fired after the news of the three drones came out, possibly hints to someone getting cold feet in Latvia. The incident in fact is shedding light on the dirty deal between NATO and the Baltic countries. In protest, the Progressives party pulled their support for the governing coalition, causing it to collapse months before a planned general election in October. Sources acquainted with the situation in Latvia told EIR that current events must be seen in the contest of a growing unpopularity of the government, which faces a difficult general election in October. Opposition leader Ainārs Šlesers (LPV) is leading in the polls. He is labelled as a rightwing populist and, according to EIR sources, he is somehow “euroskeptical.” A small oligarch, Slesers has connections to similar circles both in Norway as well as in Russia.
Although there is no public discussion of the fact that Latvia has allowed use of its territory for Ukrainian attacks on Russia, due to strict government control of free speech, the widespread feeling in the population is that something must change. The country is suffering under a demographic crisis: since independence has lost one third of its population, from ca. 2.7 million to less than 2 million.