In Latvia, the fall of a drone pushes the Defense Minister towards the exit

Andris Spruds, a minister from the Progressive party in Latvia, announced Sunday night that he would resign from his position as Minister of Defense in order to protect the Latvian army from divisive political campaigns, as reported by the public media LSM.

When a drone from Ukraine fell on a oil site near Rezekne, a large city in eastern Latvia near the Russian border, the residents were only alerted to the danger several hours later. In total, two drones struck oil storage facilities in this small Baltic country of 1.82 million inhabitants. This was not the only criticism levied by Evika Silina, the head of the government, at her minister. She stated that Latvia’s anti-drone systems were not deployed quickly enough by the Ministry of Defense. She even posted on her X account that Andris Spruds had lost “[his] trust and that of the Latvians.”

Today, the defense budget in Latvia is nearly 5% of the Latvian GDP, a record level of funding. She continued to say on X, “It’s a huge responsibility that requires clear results.” The drone incident revealed that the political leadership in the defense sector failed to deliver on its promise to ensure a safe sky above Latvia. To enhance security, she recommends systematically integrating Ukrainian experience, especially in the development of anti-drone systems, into Latvia’s defense.

The future of the coalition is now in question, just a few months before a new legislative election scheduled for October 3. The Progressive party, one of the three in the coalition, will announce its decision this week. The Prime Minister will serve in the interim until the appointment of Colonel Raivis Melnis, who currently serves as the representative of the Ministry of Defense in Ukraine. Believing that this sector “needs a new professional approach,” she selected a candidate with a national military background and “Ukrainian experience.”

In recent months, several Ukrainian drones heading to attack Russian oil complexes on the Baltic coast have crashed in the region. In March, a drone hit a chimney at a power plant in Auvere, Estonia. Estonian broadcaster ERR cites a message on the Ukrainian Foreign Minister’s X account, attributing these incidents to “Russian interference.”

The Baltic countries and Ukraine are in talks to collaborate on this issue. The Lithuanian Defense Minister, Robertas Kaunas, stated in the national newspaper LRT that “Lithuania will invite Ukrainian experts to combat infiltrating drones [in Lithuanian airspace].”