www.militaar.net

Latvia plans to spend €234 million on defense procurements this year, the Defense Ministry said February 22.

The main areas of spending are as follows: 28% of the sum will be spent on buying military transport, 15% on ammunition, 13% on buying weapons and 8% on individual equipment.

The money will be used both for new and current contracts. A total 70% of the sum will be used to fulfill existing obligations, the ministry says.

€40 million will be spent on equipment for army and National Guard (Zemessardze) soldiers, a priority this year.

As reported, on February 12 Defense Minister Raimonds Bergmanis signed a €108 million contract to buy "Spike" anti-tank missiles from Israeli manufacturer Rafael.

Latvia is also buying helicopters and finalizing past contracts over the purchase of tactical military transport.

The ministry says that this year the central procurement budget is 46% bigger than that of 2017. Latvia's defense spending grew an annual €126.8m in 2018, reaching €576.4m or 2% of GDP.

From 2018 to 2021, Latvia plans on investing about €50 million annually into military infrastructure.

The Lithuanian government approved on Wednesday legal amendments to allow shooting down uncrewed aircraft flying without permission over military areas.

The amendments, which will now go to the parliament for approval, would also ban unauthorized drones from flying over military areas and filming or photographing these areas.

The proposed legislation would also give authorities the right to persecute or detain persons illegally visualizing military areas.

The Defense Ministry says that the amendments are aimed at filling in existing gaps in the legal regulation.

"An analysis of national security threats points to a sharp increase in the number of cases of surveillance, photographing and video recording of military facilities since 2014. The number of flights by unmanned aerial vehicles over military territories and exercise zones has been steadily growing, too," the ministry said in explanatory notes to the bill.

"Surveillance and video recording of military facilities can be used by foreign intelligence services. Also, unmanned aerial vehicles can be used as weapons," it said.

The ministry underlines that the existing legislation is not sufficient to prevent this threat.

Latvian Security Police starts a case against Latvian citizen spying for Russia and storing illegal firearms. Spied on LV military objects in Alūksne region

Nad võiks vahelduseks letti võtta ka tegelased kes oma eelistusi väga ei varjagi. Täna seisis ühe Riia kaubanduskeskuse ees Audi nn. maastur Läti numbrimärgiga "RUS 001" ja keskele oli veel vene lipu kleepinud

Roamless kirjutas: Meelsuse eest meil vangi ei panda.

The long-term presence of NATO forces in the Baltic states makes this region especially interesting to Russian military intelligence services which can turn their attention also to Latvian law enforcement agencies, public and logistics services providers, as well as construction firms, the Security Police warn in their 2017 report.

The aforementioned sectors perform back-up functions to the defense sector, the Security Police explain in the report.

It is expected that in the nearest future Russian intelligence agencies will be increasingly using unconventional methods and influence channels against NATO countries. Instead of gathering information, their main objective may be creating preconditions for attaining Russia's foreign policy goals, the Security Police said.

This year, the Russian intelligence services will continue to actively involve Russian compatriots in anti-Latvian information campaigns. The NATO troops stationed in Latvia will likely remain one of the main targets of these campaigns, aimed at discrediting Latvia's defense efforts and allies.

The Russian intelligence services can also be expected to show increased activity ahead of and during Latvia's 2018 parliamentary election and centenary events, also to discredit these processes and, if possible, affect them according to Russia's foreign interests.