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Nato must be ready for Russia launching an “existential” war against the Baltic states “masked by a blizzard of disinformation”, ambassadors from the three countries have warned. Writing exclusively for The Sunday Telegraph, the top diplomats to the UK from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania said that Russia could “pivot quickly” from Ukraine to invade the Baltic. And they said that Vladimir Putin’s brutalisation of Ukraine is evoking the three countries’ “darkest memories” of occupation under Stalin. The Estonian ambassador Viljar Lubi, the Latvian ambassador Ivita Burmistre, and Lithuania’s charge d’affaire Lina Zigmantaite, wrote the joint article to mark Friday’s 20...

In France tonight police removing 200 protesting farmers from the headquarters of dairy conglomerate... At least 23 dead after an open pit gold mine collapsed in Venezuela... US Central Command reporting four strikes against missile sites in Yemen and... Israeli airstrikes reported late tonight in Gaza... The Baltic nation of Lithuania tightening restrictions on movement of Russian nationals... As he campaigns in California Joe Biden canceling federal student loans... The Florida legislature passing a bill to release some state grand jury information related to Jeffrey Epstein... "female spaces should be exclusively for females, not biological males" Canada's Opposition Leader Pierre...

TURKEY will let Sweden into NATO once they are allowed to buy F-16 fighter jets from the US. Referring to the F-16 plan and Sweden’s application to join the Alliance, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is reported as stating this Tuesday, September 26: ‘If they fulfil their promises, our parliament will also fulfil its own and take its steps accordingly’ Pointing out that the Turkish parliament has the final say on Sweden’s NATO membership, Erdogan stressed: ‘When the issue comes to the agenda of parliament, we will see together what the decision will be’, according to aa.com.tr. Speaking on the Presidential...

VILNIUS, Lithuania — The Biden administration is urging U.S. citizens in Belarus to depart the country immediately and warned against travel there in a statement published Monday. The updated travel warning comes after bordering countries Lithuania, Latvia and Poland have stepped up security along the border over concerns about Russian Wagner mercenary forces exiled in the country. The State Department, in its warning, encouraged Americans still in Belarus to depart the country immediately and categorized the country as a Level 4 risk, the highest security warning.

Archaeologists from the University of Gdańsk conducting excavations in Barczewko near Olsztyn discovered a deposit of about 150 14th-century bracteates, as well as a medieval sword pommel and other military items....at an early stage of its development, the city of Wartberg was completely destroyed by the invasion of the Lithuanian army of princes Kęstutis and Olgierd in 1354. It was never rebuilt or repopulated, so the ruins have been remained intact for centuries...Analysis will also reveal whether, apart from the Teutonic coins from the mints in Toruń and Elbląg, there are others that could indicate the existence of a bishop's...

LITHUANIA — A Ukrainian attendee at this year's NATO Summit found himself feeling embarrassed upon realizing the get-together was not, in fact, a costume party as he had thought. "Zoinks! This is humiliating!" said the man, who was wearing a brand-new army-man costume complete with realistic army shoes. "I'm sticking out like a sore thumb here! Why am I the only one not wearing a fancy suit? Didn't the invite say to wear the coolest costumes we can come up with?" "UGH! So awkward!" The man then milled about uncomfortably as most of the attendees smiled politely and tried to...

President Joe Biden vowed to stand by Ukraine 'as long as it takes' as he and fellow G7 leaders announced a new security deal for Kyiv. It came just one day after Volodymyr Zelensky launched a social media tirade against his Western allies over what he called an 'absurd' delay to setting out a pathway to his country's full membership of the NATO military alliance. 'We are going to be there as long as it takes,' Biden said in a speech flanked by fellow leaders from the G7, a club of the world's richest economies that includes Britain and France....

Ukraine deserves to have NATO membership, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, following talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that Russia said it was closely watching. Zelensky spent this week visiting NATO countries, courting support ahead of a NATO summit in Lithuania next week where members are expected to reaffirm that Ukraine will eventually join. “Without a doubt, Ukraine deserves to be in NATO,” Erdogan said. Zelensky said he was “happy to hear” that Turkey supports Ukraine’s bid to join during a joint press conference.

Germany is willing to send around 4,000 troops to Lithuania on a permanent basis to strengthen NATO’s eastern flank, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said during a visit in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius ...He said infrastructure and facilities will need to be created to accommodate the soldiers and their families. In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine early last year, the German government pledged last June to have a combat brigade ready to defend Lithuania in the event of an attack.. Until now, however, there have been differences over whether the soldiers should be permanently stationed in Lithuania or...

Holocaust expert calls Ingrida Simonyte's speech at AJC confab 'pathetic' for ignoring country's role in murdering Jews; Vilnius urges Israel to help Ukraine fend off Iranian drones Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte called Israel's defenses 'the best antidote against Iranian weapons," in a speech in Tel Aviv Sunday...

Ukraine's ambassador to France, Vadym Omelchenko, called out the Chinese ambassador to France Lu Shaye's statement denying sovereignty to post-Soviet countries, including Ukraine. Omelchenko wrote on Twitter on April 22 that there were "obvious problems with geography" and that Shaye's statement contradicted China's official position "on efforts to restore peace in Ukraine on the basis of international law and the purposes and principles of the UN Charter."

Saul Anuzis: One of the big lessons is the fact that states like the Baltics, Ukraine, and Poland threaten the Russian system. Because people realise that there's an alternative to having a strong dictator leader and a system that basically “takes care of you” because you can't somehow take care of yourself. There's an alternative that’s the danger for the Russians. Just walk through the Soviet republics and take a look at these people experiencing free markets, free minds, education, western values coming in, westerners coming in, finding out they're not all enemies. They're not all enemies of the state....

It was 9:00 am in the city of Slavyansk in eastern Ukraine, on 12 April 2014. A group of 52 armed men, about 80% of them Ukrainian citizens, stormed the city’s Interior Ministry building. The government policemen in the building opened fire on the armed men, but quickly surrendered to the larger force after they fired automatic weapons into the building. The armed men, led by the shadowy Russian Colonel Igor Strelkov, tore down the building’s Ukrainian blue and yellow flag. They raised the Russian white, blue, and red tricolor. Strelkov and his men formed the nucleus of a rebellion...

An explosive report has blown the lid off a NATO nation's 'sham' support for Ukraine. Estonia, a NATO member, is allegedly using European Peace Facility (EPF) funds to renew its own weapons while sending old stocks to Kyiv, according to a Politico report. The European Peace Facility (EPF) fund is intended to partially reimburse countries that have sent military aid to Ukraine but is now reportedly being exploited. According to seven EU diplomats quoted in the report, Estonia is sending its scraps to Ukraine and buying brand new material for itself, financed with EU money. The report, however, is set...

The chief of Lithuania's military intelligence said Russia has enough resources to continue the war in Ukraine for two more years at the current intensity...

While Lithuanian has changed, it changed more slowly than other Indo-European languages and so the contemporary language has features similar to those of such ancient ones as Sanskrit, Greek and Latin. Traditional Lithuanian houses are often adorned with a horse motif. The twin horse heads are known as ‘Ašvieniai’. In Lithuanian mythology, the Ašvieniai are divine twins portrayed as pulling the carriage of the sun god (Saule) through the sky. That their name sounds uncannily familiar to Indians is on account of the fact that the term and other details pertaining to their portrayal are akin to the Ashwin twins...

A large blast has hit a gas pipeline in the Pasvalys region of northern Lithuania, near the Latvian border. Images broadcast by local media showed flames illuminating the night sky, but officials say there have been no injuries caused by the explosion. Latvia's Defence Minster Artis Pabriks wrote on Twitter that the cause of the incident would be investigated and said sabotage could not be ruled out. But the pipeline's operator said it did not believe the blast was suspicious. "According to the initial assessment, we do not see any malign cause, but the investigation will cover all possible options,"...

On this date in 1573, the Swedish commander of Weissenstein (present-day Paide, Estonia), Hans Boije af Gennäs was executed when his fortress was overrun by Russian troops, during the Livonian War. A walled city with a Teutonic Knights-built keep, Weissenstein sat at a crossroads in interior Livonia and changed hands several times during this decades-long multilateral conflict involving Russia, Sweden, Denmark-Norway, Poland, and Lithuania — the latter two of which united into a Commonwealth during the war. Big picture, the Livonian War ran from 1558 to 1583; the stakes were, as one might guess, control of Livonia — essentially, the...

The Ukrainian army’s newest howitzers also are among its oldest. On Sunday, the first video appeared online depicting ex-Lithuanian M101 howitzers in front-line use by Ukrainian forces, apparently somewhere in eastern Ukraine. The 105-millimeter M101 was the standard light howitzer for U.S. and allied forces ... in World War II. But the design’s age belies its effectiveness. The 2.5-ton M101 is a classic—an artillery piece that nearly perfectly balances weight, range and accuracy. The M101 was a battle-winner 80 years ago. In the hands of experienced, motivated gunners, it still can win battles today. Especially as those gunners combine the...

The United Nations General Assembly's first committee, which deals with disarmament, global challenges, and threats to peace that affect the international community, voted 152-5, on Friday, on a resolution concerning "the risk of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East". The resolution states that Israel must dispose of all its nuclear weapons and place its nuclear sites under the International Atomic Energy Agency's purview. The resolution, which is submitted every year to the UNGA in New York, was submitted by Egypt and sponsored by the Palestinian Authority and 19 counties including Bahrain, Jordan, Morocco, and the United Arab Emirates. Canada, Israel,...