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☆ Factbox: European states in Estonia pledge weapons for Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

REUTERS/Ints KalninsJan 19 (Reuters) - A group of 11 European states have pledged to deliver more arms to Ukraine in its war with Russia, saying they would send main battle tanks, heavy artillery, air defence, ammunition and infantry fighting vehicles. The 11 nations were Estonia, Britain, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Germany, the Netherlands, Slovakia and Spain. Weapons donations and military support will continue in close cooperation with allies and in accordance with Ukrainian needs. Estonia will continue to provide both basic and specialist training to hundreds of Ukrainian Armed Forces members in 2023. Poland has already donated 42 infantry fighting vehicles along with training package for two mechanised battalions.

☆ Lithuania's Teltonika in semiconductor deal with Taiwan group
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

RIGA, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Lithuanian tech firm Teltonika said on Wednesday it had signed a cooperation agreement with Taiwan's Industrial Technology Institute, giving the Baltic company access to semiconductor manufacturing technologies. The deal was valued at 14 million euros ($15.2 million), and was supported by a 10 million euro grant from Taiwan's foreign ministry, it said. ($1=0.9223 euro)Reporting by Andrius Sytas in Riga, editing by Terje SolsvikOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Lithuanian pipeline blast blamed on rupture not attack
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/3] Workers inspect the aftermath of a gas pipeline explosion in Pasvalys, Lithuania January 14, 2023. REUTERS/Janis LaizansPASVALYS, Lithuania, Jan 14 (Reuters) - A rupture in an old natural gas pipe has emerged as the most likely cause of Friday's blast in the Lithuania-Latvia pipeline, the head of its operator said on Saturday. The explosion yielded flames up to 50 meters high, but there was no immediate evidence of an attack. "The initial survey showed that a welding seam simply tore open", Nemunas Biknius, head of Lithuania's gas transmission operator Amber Grid, told BNS wire. The fire emanating from the more than 40-year old pipeline was put out on Friday but a highway next to the blast site remains closed.

☆ Lithuania-Latvia gas pipeline hit by explosion, operator says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Andrius Sytas | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

VILNIUS, Jan 13 (Reuters) - A gas pipeline connecting Lithuania and Latvia was hit by an explosion on Friday, Lithuania gas transmission operator Amber Grid told Reuters. Video published by Lithuania's public broadcaster LRT showed a fire raging at the blast site in the Panevezys county in northern Lithuania. "We are investigating the cause of the explosion," the Amber Grid spokesperson said. Povilas Balciunas, the head of public administration in the nearby town of Pasvalys, told Reuters the flames were still burning at 1750 GMT. Reporting by Andrius Sytas, writing by Terje Solsvik; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and David EvansOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Ukraine has shared a list with European countries of some 10,000 items it urgently needs to maintain power. Since early October, Russian forces have targeted Ukraine's energy infrastructure, causing blackouts and forcing millions of people to endure sub-zero temperatures with little or no heating. As stockpiles of state-owned European power grids dwindle, Lorkowski expected the private sector to become more important in meeting Ukraine's energy infrastructure needs. A first tranche of U.S. power equipment worth $13 million has been shipped to Ukraine, officials said, and two more planeloads were due to leave shortly. Olena Osmolovska, director of the reform support team at Ukraine's energy ministry, said it would cost tens of billions of dollars to fully restore the energy system.

The article was one of a series of reports this year by the news agency on Binance's financial compliance and relationship with regulators across the world. Reuters also asked representatives of the local Binance units and affiliates about their relationship with the main Binance exchange. In Italy, Binance's public corporate filings detail just the unit's capital base and its ownership by a separate Binance company in Ireland. The Italian company, Binance Italy S.R.L., has its listed address in a block of shops and apartments in the southern city of Lecce. Just two of the Binance units analysed by Reuters offer more substantial details in their filings.

☆ Ukraine's Zelenskiy asks European leaders for air defence, tanks, weapons
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Andrius Sytas | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"I ask you to increase the possibility of supplying air defence systems to our country, and to help speed up the relevant decisions to be taken by our partners," Zelenskiy said, addressing Sunak. "For our defence operations to be more successful we need armoured vehicles, primarily tanks," said Zelenskiy. "The sooner we restore our border control, the stronger your security will be," Zelenskiy said. "Ukrainian children in their letters to St Nicholas ask for air defence, for weapons, for victory," he said, referring to the name used for Santa Claus in Ukraine. Reporting by Andrius Sytas, editing by Terje Solsvik, Stine Jacobsen and Tomasz JanowskiOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Analysis: EU unity over Russia sanctions falters as Europe's economy wilts
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( John O'Donnell | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Some, such as Belgium and Greece, as well as Hungary which still relies heavily on Russian energy imports, pushed back against further sweeping measures, EU diplomats told Reuters. Russia says sanctions have boomeranged against the West, driving up inflation as energy prices have rocketed higher. Meanwhile, existing EU measures are not always watertight. Others are more discrete, while some have half an eye on a future relationship with Russia after the war ends. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said this month that the EU would "tighten the sanctions against Russia for as long as Putin continues his war".

Lignite contains several times more sulphur and ash, and five times more mercury, than black coal, and provides three times less energy. It also loosened restrictions on selling coal waste, which can be highly polluting, taking Poland back to the days before 2018, when the rules for coal were tightened to fight smog. In September, PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski even told residents of Nowy Targ, the town with the lowest air quality in Poland in 2020, to burn pretty much whatever they wanted. Smog has been intense over the past days and we have a lot of children in need of intensive treatment," she said. COAL RUSHAbout 80% of the coal used by European Union citizens to heat homes is burned in Poland.

☆ Analysis: East Europeans count their pennies for Christmas as food costs soar
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Krisztina Than | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Food prices in Hungary were a staggering 45.2% higher in October than a year earlier, Eurostat data shows, with 10 countries in the EU's east facing food price inflation of more than 20%. The cost of food was 33.3% higher in Lithuania and up 30% in Latvia compared to October 2021. read moreCzech headline inflation slowed to 15.1% in October but food prices grew, while in Poland food and non-alcoholic beverages inflation was 22.3% in November, well ahead of overall CPI at 17.4%. Inflation in Hungary is expected to start a very slow decline in the first half of next year. "There are still no durable signs that the inflation dynamics are improving in Hungary," Goldman Sachs has said.

☆ Latvia cancels license of Russian independent television station TV Rain
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

VILNIUS, Dec 6 (Reuters) - The Latvian broadcasting regulator cancelled the license of Russian independent television station TV Rain on Tuesday, the regulator's chairman said. "In connection with the threat to the national security and public order, (the regulator) has made a decision this morning to annul the broadcast license of TV Rain", Ivars Abolins said on Twitter, adding the broadcasts will cease on Thursday. (This story has been refiled to add the dropped word 'of' in paragraph 1)Reporting by Andrius Sytas in Vilnius and Janis Laizans in Riga, editing by Stine JacobsenOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Latvia cancels licence of exiled Russian television station TV Rain
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Andrius Sytas | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Summary Russian TV station moved to Latvia after Ukraine invasionLatvian regulator says it poses security threatTV Rain calls accusation "absurd"VILNIUS, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Latvia has cancelled the licence of Russian independent television station TV Rain after the company was branded a threat to national security, the state broadcasting regulator said on Tuesday. TV Rain said it programmes could still be seen on YouTube. Abolins said the regulator was convinced TV Rain did not understand "the essence and gravity" of its alleged violations. TV Rain apologized to its viewers and fired a presenter on Friday after Latvia's State Security Service launched an investigation into comments he made on air. TV Rain editor-in-chief Tikhon Dzyadko called the comments "misleading", tweeting last Friday: "TV Rain did not, does not, and will not act to help supply the Russian army".

☆ - Have patience, Russia sanctions will work, Lithuania PM says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Poland and other Western states have said the missile was a Ukrainian air defence missile that went astray in pursuit of a Russian missile. "The better air defence system Ukraine has, the less probability of incidents like that might happen... It is important not only for NATO to provide a decent (air) defence system, but also provide Ukraine with a decent (air) defence system," she said. Since the invasion, NATO has named Russia a persistant threat, nearby Sweden and Finland have applied to join the alliance and the NATO presence in the Baltics has increased. The Belarus military did not take part in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but Russian troops used Belarus territory for their offensive.

☆ 25 Ukrainian soldiers hospitalised after bus crash in Latvia
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

VILNIUS, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Twenty-five Ukrainian soldiers and an Estonian soldier were hospitalised after their bus collided with a truck in Latvia, Estonian public broadcaster ERR reported on Sunday. The coach travelling from Tallinn to Riga was chartered by the Estonian army, and its driver was killed in the Saturday evening crash, ERR said. It did not say why the Ukrainian soldiers were in Latvia. The crash was one of several that occurred along the road on Saturday as ice and snow made driving hazardous, Latvia's public broadcaster said. Reporting by Andrius Sytas in Vilnius; Editing by Hugh LawsonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Ukraine's Zelenskiy says Europe must avoid division, set low price for Russia's oil
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

VILNIUS, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday called on Europeans to remain united against Russia's war and to severely limit the price for Russian oil. This is our mission number one this year," Zelenskiy said in an address via a live video link to a conference in Lithuania. It's not helping Ukraine to stand against Russia, this is helping Europe to stand against Russian aggression", he added. We hear about (proposals to set the cap per barrel at) $60 or $70. "But I'm very grateful to our Baltic and Polish colleagues for their proposals, quite reasonable ones, to set this camp at $30 per barrel.

☆ NATO holds emergency meeting on Poland blast, discusses air defence
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Sabine Siebold | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BRUSSELS, Nov 16 (Reuters) - NATO ambassadors held an emergency meeting on Wednesday to discuss a missile that hit Poland close to the Ukrainian border, with at least two alliance members calling for steps to strengthen air defence on the military alliance's eastern wing. It was unclear whether that would still be the case, after a source said Biden told G7 and NATO partners that the missile blast was caused by a Ukrainian air defence missile. The emergency NATO ambassadors' meeting was in any case likely to discuss air defence, Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger said. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said NATO should swiftly deploy more air defences on the Polish-Ukrainian border and the rest of the alliance's eastern flank. The explosion near the Ukrainian border came as Russia unleashed a wave of missiles targeting Ukrainian energy infrastructure, attacks that Kyiv said were the heaviest in nearly nine months of war.

☆ Lithuanian president says 'every inch of NATO territory must be defended'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

VILNIUS, Nov 15 (Reuters) - NATO member Lithuania's president said Tuesday evening that 'every inch of NATO territory' must be defended after an explosion was reported in a village in eastern Poland near the border with Ukraine. "Concerning news from Poland tonight on at least two explosions. Every inch of NATO territory must be defended!," President Gitanas Nauseda tweeted. "The cause of the explosions is not yet known, but at the same time Russian missiles attacked Ukraine," Nauseda added in a Facebook post. Reporting by Andrius Sytas in Vilnius; editing by Jonathan OatisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Taiwan to invest 10 mln euros towards chip production in Lithuania
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Andrius Sytas | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

VILNIUS, Nov 7 (Reuters) - Taiwan, the world's biggest supplier of semiconductors, will invest more than 10 million euros ($9.98 million) towards chip production in Lithuania, the head of the Taiwanese representative office in Vilnius said on Monday. Lithuania allowed Taiwan to open a de-facto embassy in its country in November last year, angering China which views the democratically-governed island as its own territory. Earlier this year, Taiwan launched a 200-million-euro equity investment fund and a 1-billion-euro loan facility for Lithuania and other central and eastern European countries. The first equity investments totalling 10 million euros in Lithuanian would be completed by early next year, said Huang, adding that first loans amounting to 9 million euros should be dispersed by the end of this month. Lithuania formally launched its own representation in Taiwan on Monday.

☆ ECB policymakers stick with hike plans even as recession looms
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Balazs Koranyi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/2] Signage is seen outside the European Central Bank (ECB) building, in Frankfurt, Germany, July 21, 2022. But policymakers on Friday appeared to be on message that rates will keep going up. Investors now see ECB rates peaking at around 2.75%, above levels near 2.5% seen on Thursday after the ECB's rate hike and language tweaks. RECESSIONThe policymakers' reinforcement of the rate hike message comes as a recession now looks almost certain, and will likely prompt a barrage of further criticism from European leaders. But ECB chief Christine Lagarde pushed back on the criticism on Thursday, arguing that breaking inflation was the ECB's chief mission and governments could help by providing targeted support for the most vulnerable.

☆ Recession risk looms large over euro zone, ECB policymaker says
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

VILNIUS, Oct 28 (Reuters) - The likelihood of a euro zone recession is rising but the European Central Bank needs to keep raising interest rates as inflation remains high and projections may even need to be raised, Lithuanian policymaker Gediminas Simkus said on Friday. "It seems they will be revised upwards again, especially for next year," said Simkus, who sits on the rate-setting Governing Council. Simkus also suggested that growth forecasts may need to be cut to account for a recession, as the bloc struggles with sky high energy costs. "The likelihood that the euro zone enters a technical recession has grown," Simkus said. The ECB currently reinvests all cash from bonds maturing in the scheme and the expectation is that instead of outright bond sales, the ECB would wind down the debt pile by not reinvesting all funds.

☆ Russian media figure Ksenia Sobchak is in Lithuania after house search - state security
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

VILNIUS, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Russian media figure Ksenia Sobchak is in Lithuania after entering the country on her Israeli passport, the head of Lithuania's counter-intelligence service said on Thursday, a day after Russian police searched one of her houses. She is the daughter of the late Anatoly Sobchak, St Petersburg's mayor in the 1990s, who was Putin's boss and friend. Israel's daily Haaretz newspaper reported in April that Sobchak acquired Israeli citizenship after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Sobchak said she had genuinely wanted to win the contest and was interested in politics and bringing about change. Reporting by Andrius Sytas in Vilnius Editing by Andrew Osborn and William MacleanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Estonia turns back to shale oil as it cuts off Russian power
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-19 | by ( Janis Laizans | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

AUVERE, Estonia, Oct 19 (Reuters) - When Baltic states switched off Russian power and halted other imports in response to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, Estonia restarted its shale oil power plants and set back its efforts to phase out heavily polluting fuels. "This is just to replace the missing power supplies and compensate for high power prices." "This is just to replace the missing power supplies and compensate for high power prices," Stutter said of the shift back to shale oil. About 80% of cost of power from the power plants are environmental taxes. Eesti Energia said it had hired 600 people this year to ramp up shale oil production and to staff the power plants.

☆ Estonian PM tells nation to prepare for blackouts if Russia switches off power grid
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-23 | by ( Andrius Sytas | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas speaks to media after an extraordinary parliamentary session in Tallinn, Estonia July 18, 2022. REUTERS/Ints KalninsVILNIUS, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas told her nation that power blackouts are possible if Russia kicks the Baltic states from the joint power grid, as she announced a snap defence readiness exercise. Thirty years after seceding from the then-Soviet Union and 17 years since joining the EU, Baltic states Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia still depend on Russia for stable power supplies. A 1.6-billion-euro ($1.94 billion) EU-funded project aims to disconnect the Baltic states from their common power grid with Russia and Belarus in 2025 in favour of the decentralised power system of continental Europe. read moreEuropean power grid network ENTSO-E will connect to the Baltic states' grids within 24 hours if the countries were to be disconnected by Russia, helping avoid blackouts, Lithuanian power grid operator Litgrid said in July.

☆ Baltic states and Poland close doors to Russian tourists
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-19 | by ( Andrius Sytas | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

A general view of the bridge over Narva river at the border crossing point with Russia in Narva, Estonia September 18, 2022. Monday's entry ban is targeted at tourists and excludes Russian dissidents seeking refuge in the EU along with lorry drivers, refugees and permanent residents of EU countries as well as those visiting family members. The border guard told me I won't t be allowed to come here anymore," he told Reuters. "I will still be able to get to Estonia through other countries," he told Reuters shortly after crossing into Narva. Russia said it would retaliate against the curbs, but would not close itself off from the bloc.

☆ Sprijin economic istoric din partea UE pentru R. Moldova. Comisia Europeană a aprobat un ajutor de 600 de milioane de euro
▼ + stars: | 2021-06-02 | by ( ) ziuadeazi.md time to read: +1 min

Comisia Europeană a aprobat astăzi un plan de relansare economică istoric, de 600 de milioane de euro, pentru Republica Moldova. Anunţul a fost făcut de către Siegfried Mureşan, preşedintele Delegaţiei Parlamentului European la Comitetul Parlamentar de Asociere UE – R. Moldova. „Cea mai bună veste pe care cetăţenii Republicii Moldova au primit-din partea Uniunii Europene de la liberalizarea regimului de vize este planul de relansare economică de 600 de milioane de euro pentru următorii 3 ani anunţat astăzi de Comisia Europeană. Republica Moldova beneficiază de un plan de relansare economică la fel cum beneficiază toate ţările membre ale Uniunii Europene. Planul de relansare economică pentru Republica Moldova nu ar fi fost posibil fără colaborarea extrem de strânsă dintre preşedinta Maia Sandu şi instituţiile Uniunii Europene”, scrie europarlamentarul pe pagina sa de Facebook.

Persons: Anunţul, Siegfried Mureşan, Maia Sandu, Andrzej Halicki Organizations: Comisia Europeană, Uniunii Europene, Uniunea Europeană, Europene, Facebook, Europeană Locations: Republica Moldova, Moldova

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