Latvia’s foreign minister warns that Russia is carrying out sabotage across Europe, cites NATO member-state security

Latvia’s foreign minister warned in an interview aired Thursday that Russian sabotage efforts remain a continuing threat across Europe, particularly for NATO members that share security concerns stemming from the region’s 20th-century history. Speaking with PBS NewsHour’s Nick Schifrin, the Latvian foreign minister described how the “specter” of the Russian threat is still present for many European countries that experienced Soviet occupation for decades. Latvia, which borders Russia and is a NATO member, has kept those concerns central to its approach to diplomacy and security planning, the interview said, with an emphasis on preparedness rather than alarm.

The interview was framed around an active week of diplomacy involving Latvian engagement with European partners and allies. Latvia’s foreign minister tied those conversations to the ongoing security environment, saying European governments should treat sabotage and other covert actions as risks that require continued attention even as diplomatic efforts proceed. In explaining why sabotage is such a persistent focus, the foreign minister pointed to the way memories of Soviet control have shaped national threat perceptions in the Baltics and beyond. Those experiences, the interview said, are part of why NATO membership has come to be viewed not only as deterrence against conventional attack, but also as a structure for coordinating responses to nontraditional and covert threats.

The foreign minister’s remarks also underscored the practical implications for civilian life and institutional stability. Sabotage, in this framing, is presented as a form of disruption that can undermine public confidence, strain emergency services, and create knock-on effects for critical infrastructure and day-to-day governance. Latvia’s position, as described in the interview, is that European security planning should keep tracing the source of risk back to Russia, while treating allied coordination as essential to managing that risk. The interview indicated that diplomacy and security policy are being conducted together, rather than separately, to reduce the chance that covert activity could exploit gaps between national defenses or legal authorities.

The PBS report did not provide specific newly detected sabotage cases in its description, but it placed the warning in the context of Latvia’s broader messaging about Russian behavior in Europe. The account also linked the warning to Latvia’s geographic vulnerability as a border state and to the alliance architecture that Latvia says can help reduce uncertainty about how quickly partners can respond to threats.

Going forward, Latvia’s public messaging suggests it will continue using allied forums and bilateral diplomacy to emphasize sabotage risk and bolster preparedness across Europe, particularly among NATO members with direct historical and geographic exposure. The interview also indicates that discussions over deterrence and resilience are likely to remain closely connected, with public communications aimed at keeping governments and publics aligned on the kinds of threats they should treat as ongoing.