Latvia's government nears collapse after prime minister resigns
Latvian Prime Minister Evika Siliņa (photo: Getty Images)
Latvian Prime Minister Evika Siliņa has resigned following the defense minister's resignation. The entire current government will also step down, LSM reports.
The resignation took place amid a government crisis. On May 13, the liberal party Progressives, which is the junior coalition partner, said it saw no possibility of continuing work in Siliņa's government and called on her to resign.
Leader of the Progressives faction in Saeima, Andris Šuvajevs, also warned this morning that if a vote of no confidence takes place, the government will fall.
In the morning, the parliamentary session was temporarily suspended at the prime minister's request. Siliņa was expected to speak in Saeima, but instead she held a press conference at the Cabinet of Ministers, where she officially announced her resignation.
What preceded this
On May 7, two drones entered Latvia from Russia, one of which hit an empty oil reservoir, causing a fire.
After that, the Lithuanian government summoned the Russian chargé d'affaires and handed a protest note.
The Latvian prime minister also sharply criticized the military's actions in response to airspace violations.
On May 10, the country's defense minister, Andris Sprūds, announced his resignation amid criticism. Siliņa proposed Colonel Raivis Melnis as his replacement.
A day earlier, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha held a conversation with Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braže regarding drone incidents involving drones that entered the country from Russian territory.
He stressed that investigations proved this was a result of deliberate diversion of Ukrainian drones from their targets in Russia by Russian electronic warfare systems.
