00:00Europe's eastern flank is facing another moment of heightened tension.
00:04Latvia and its Baltic neighbours are, once again, on alert amid growing concerns over Russian drones,
00:11airspace violations and a broader campaign of hybrid pressure against NATO.
00:16One of the top topics at the EU's Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg today.
00:21Is Moscow testing Europe's resolve and how close are we to a dangerous escalation?
00:26We'll put these questions now to Latvia's Foreign Minister, Baiba Braje.
00:31Good morning, madam. Great to have you on.
00:34Good morning from Luxembourg City. We are at the EU Foreign Affairs meeting.
00:40Wonderful. So a lot has happened over the past 48 hours around Latvia.
00:46What is your assessment of the security situation in the region right now?
00:50How serious is the threat?
00:53I think in the big picture, there hasn't been significant change.
00:59Russia is stuck in Ukraine. Ukraine is defending herself.
01:03Russia is not only advancing, but actually losing some of the ground in Donbass.
01:08And Russia is unable to challenge NATO militarily.
01:13But, of course, Russia's warfare doctrine doesn't include only conventional military tactics.
01:19It also includes submilitary, subconventional warfare.
01:24And that is what sometimes is called hybrid, which is too fluffy and too nice to actually be characterized.
01:31What it is, is sabotage.
01:32If necessary, it's killing of people, threats to the chiefs of military companies,
01:38or actual possible implementation of those threats if necessary.
01:42We saw attack on Leipzig airport, massive cyber attacks, constant cyber attacks everywhere,
01:50information, disinformation attacks, hostile activities elsewhere.
01:54So it's everything that doesn't necessarily involve direct military attack, but it's still part of Russia's doctrine.
02:02Madam, are you concerned that what we are seeing is moving beyond hybrid warfare
02:07into a more direct military confrontation with Russia?
02:10And does Moscow feel emboldened by Trump's pressure campaign?
02:16As I said, for now, the military evaluation and assessment is the same for the whole of NATO,
02:23also here in the Baltic states, that Russia is enabling military to challenge NATO.
02:30So that means it cannot militarily attack because it doesn't have sufficient capabilities.
02:39And again, it's stuck in Ukraine.
02:42But, of course, we see other developments.
02:46We see that Belarus, enabled by Russia, is pushing massive groups of illegal migrants
02:52against the border of the EU and NATO, and that's the border in Latvia.
02:55So we are defending that border, but we see that there is an organizational sort of aspect to it all,
03:04that it's not just happening by itself, and groups of 20 and more people trying to climb over the border,
03:11tunnels, you know, people stealing cameras on the border.
03:16So there is a sort of tension quite clearly that is present.
03:22And do you believe NATO's eastern flank is sufficiently protected today?
03:27Yes or no?
03:29Yes, we have 14 allies with us here in Latvia.
03:36Canadians, you know, neighbors and Polish and Slovaks and others.
03:41So we have not only Latvian-owned defense forces, but also our NATO allies together
03:49and various capabilities for the air, for the land, for the sea, to make sure that we deter.
03:57NATO is deterrence.
03:58NATO's KPI is peace.
04:00It's a peace organization.
04:02And it has been successful since its foundation in 1949.
04:05So we have to continue that.
04:07All right.
04:08Bye-bye, Braje, the Latvian foreign minister.
04:10Thank you so much for your time this morning.
