"Our enhanced presence in eastern Latvia will allow us to respond more quickly to other possible provocations from aggressor states. During the 'Namejs 2026' exercises, support for the State Border Guard will not be reduced," emphasized Pudans. President Edgars Rinkēvičs stated that the level and assessment of the military threat have not changed, and the risk of a Russian invasion is currently low; however, sabotage, cyberattacks, and hybrid operations remain possible. Latvia and other NATO and European Union countries face these regularly, and the internal affairs authorities, the National Armed Forces, and NATO allies are taking measures to prevent them. The director of the Geopolitical Research Center expressed the opinion in a Latvian Television program 'Morning Panorama' that, from Latvia's perspective, the visit of the Director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) John Ratcliffe to Moscow was not routine. "It is clear that the CIA director did not need to fly so openly. He could have flown less conspicuously, on a smaller plane, like Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner did when they flew to Russia. The U.S. clearly wanted it to be visible that the CIA director was arriving in Moscow via Riga, so there is obviously some connection here. [...] If it was about the Baltic states, it means that the CIA has credible information about a possible Russian attack on the Baltic states or some lesser provocations," the portal lsm.lv quotes him. According to the director, the warning reached Russia; however, "Russia is not quite an ordinary country, it should be taken into account that the enemy should never be underestimated, and it can be aggressive even when it is weak." According to the director of the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence, if the unofficial information about the warning expressed in Moscow is true, it likely referred not to a possible full-scale invasion of the Baltics, but to the escalation of Russia's hybrid activities - sabotage, provocations, cyberattacks, and drone incidents. Such threats are not new, and Latvia needs to continue preparing for them.
