The level and assessment of the military threat have not changed, Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs stressed.
Speaking on behalf of Rinkēvičs, presidential adviser Mārtiņš Drēģeris noted that the risk of a direct Russian invasion is currently low.
As the President has previously stated, various acts of sabotage, cyberattacks and hybrid operations remain possible, Drēģeris said. Latvia and other NATO and European Union countries are, in fact, regularly confronted with such activities. Latvia’s internal security services, the National Armed Forces and NATO allies are taking measures to prevent such actions.
“We highly appreciate the political, diplomatic and military efforts of our NATO allies, including the United States, to strengthen regional security,” Drēģeris said.
As previously reported, CIA Director John Ratcliffe warned Russian officials during his visit to Moscow against escalating the conflict with NATO, particularly with Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, two people familiar with the matter told Politico on Wednesday.
“The main purpose of Ratcliffe’s visit was to warn against escalatory actions targeting the Baltic states,”
one of the sources said.
The second source added that the CIA Director also sought to persuade Moscow to reduce its military and economic support for Iran.
Earlier on Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal also reported that Ratcliffe had warned Russia against attacking NATO member states.
It has also been reported that the Ministry of Climate and Energy (KEM), overseen by the National Alliance, has submitted for inter-agency approval a draft Cabinet order that would declare a state of emergency in Latvia’s eastern border region in the healthcare, energy supply and water management sectors until the 1st of December.
The ministry justified the proposal by citing the threat of an escalation in Russia’s military activities and the increasingly frequent detection of unmanned aerial vehicles and other unidentified objects in Latvian airspace or near the country’s border.
Read also: Media: Ratcliffe warned Moscow not to attack the Baltic States