Welcome to the Riga and the Baltic military-industrial complex

Good morning. Angela Skujins penning this Friday newsletter from the bitter Baltics, where I’ve just spent the last few days immersed in beetroot soup, battlefield tactics and the scintillating spirit of the rīdzinieki, aka Rigan people. I’m in Latvia for the two-day Rīga Conference, which started yesterday with security and defence very much at the top of the agenda. (And the timing is curious, with today serving as the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the Twin Towers). The big takeaway so far? There is perhaps no place or populace that understands the reality of Russian aggression quite like this pine-covered country. Latvia is a small but mighty nation that has endured centuries of foreign domination, from the swords of German crusaders to the boot of the Soviet Union. In lockstep: From chats with officials to ordinary people on the street, the reality of Russian aggression bleeding out across Ukraine’s borders — a place where a full-scale invasion has raged on for more than four years — is clear. Often, I see the carmine red and white Latvian flag flapping on flagpoles next to Ukraine's yellow and blue. But I have a Latvian grandfather who was forced to flee to Australia after World War Two due to resisting Russian fighters. I wanted to know, decades on, how Latvia and the other Baltic nations now really perceive Russian aggression, particularly off the back of increased hybrid warfare attacks. This was what I asked none other than Kyrylo Budanov, who heads up the Office of the President of Ukraine. I managed to speak to him in the margins of the conference, and quizzed him about whether Europe is taking Kyiv’s warnings seriously when it comes to cable-cuts, arson, drones rigged with explosives, weaponised migration and more. You can read his responses here. My editor, Maria Tadeo, was also in attendance at the conference and spoke to some heavy hitters in the margins of the talks. This includes the European Commissioner for the Economy, Valdis Dombrovskis — a former Latvian Prime Minister. (In Riga, locals told me they remember him as a stable and reliable leader during his five-year tenure). Economic forecast: Ukraine has asked its allies to plug a €23 billion funding shortfall. According to the EU’s top money-cruncher, Brussels needs to "pin down" the precise scope of Ukraine's growing budget needs before deciding how to fill the gap. "We obviously need to do a proper, detailed assessment, but we understand that the war continues to rage at high intensity. If anything, Russia is intensifying its attacks," Dombrovskis said. "There are still open questions." Walking on eggshells: A conflict of another kind occupied the focus of another chat Maria had — this time with Espen Barth Eide, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Norway. She asked him about the widening gulf between Israel and its allies, exacerbated by the rise in settler violence in the occupied West Bank and sanctions by several European nations and Canada. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar has previously said support for Gaza and Palestine is a prize for Hamas and a reward for terrorism. “It is absolutely not true that this in any way is a reward for terrorism,” Oslo’s top diplomat said when asked by Maria for a response to those comments, while referring to recently announced measures. “This is a strong signal of support for all those Palestinians who want to have a decent Palestinian state… These are the people who reject violence. The Palestinian authority has nothing to do with Hamas, who is actually their enemy, and this is support to the moderate Palestinians.” While I have been in Riga, my colleagues have been holding down the fort in Brussels. But the big conversations seemingly haven't strayed too far from the frontline. My colleague Vincenzo Genovese reports that more than 100 Members of the European Parliament have called on EU leaders to reopen talks on using Russia’s frozen assets to support Ukraine in response to that aforementioned shortfall. Break the bank: Meanwhile, work continues under the already approved €90 billion loan to prop up Ukraine’s defences and budgetary needs, according to Jorge. The European Commission is expected to announce today the allocation of an additional €6 billion in military aid for Ukraine, including €3.2 billion for the purchase of US-made Patriots interceptors, which the country badly needs to repel Russia’s ballistic missiles. Lunch for 28: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will today have lunch with the bloc’s true powerbrokers: the 27 ambassadors who represent the member states in Brussels. The meeting, scheduled to begin at noon, will allow envoys to sense the Commission president’s top priorities for the working year, expected to be laid bare next week at the State of the European Union speech. Yesterday, she confirmed that social media restrictions for children will feature prominently in her address. But ambassadors shouldn’t hold their breath, Jorge reports. Von der Leyen is known for keeping her cards close to her chest and enforcing the no-spoilers rule with an iron fist. NATO allies successfully thwart Russian undersea cable sabotage operation Allies from the 31 North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) have caught Russian submarines training to carry out undersea cable sabotage using a secret weapon that leaves no trace. According to reporting by Reuters, citing two Western officials, the undercover Russian operation was carried out by the country's highly secret undersea warfare directorate in Arctic waters near Norway's Svalbard archipelago. Following Euronews reporting on the operation that was announced in April, the discovery of the weapon, the location of the operation, and the US involvement have now been disclosed. Gael Camba breaks down what we know about this clandestine operation so far. More from our newsrooms EU falls short on Draghi reform agenda, new report shows The European Union is implementing the recommendations of former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, but at a pace that is failing to keep up with the rest of the world. Eleonora Vasques has the details. Asylum requests in Europe drop to five-year low in first half of 2026 The European Union Agency for Asylum said this decline is due to the ongoing political transition in Syria as well as the EU's cooperation with countries of origin and transit. Read more. EU Commission eyes major import overhaul to crack down on illegal Chinese products Brussels is preparing a new law to crack down on non-compliant imports as part of a broader effort to curtail illegal Chinese products entering the EU market. Luca Bertuzzi and Peggy Corlin have the scoop. We're also keeping an eye on - European Commissioner for Defence Andrius Kubilius participates in the first board meeting of the EU-Ukraine Drone Alliance in Brussels, Belgium. - European Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management Hadja Lahbib meets with President of the Republic of Moldova Maia Sandu in Chișinău. - European Commissioner for Sport Glenn Micallef attends the opening ceremony of the Special Olympics European Swimming Open in Msida, Malta. That’s it for today. Vincenzo Genovese and Jorge Liboreiro contributed to this newsletter.