Latvia’s Prime Minister resigns over Ukraine-Russia drone incidents

Latvia's centre-right Prime Minister Evika Silina said she ⁠would resign on Thursday, triggering the collapse of her coalition government just months before an election ⁠is due ​in ⁠October.

"I am resigning, but I am not ⁠giving up," she said in ​a televised ⁠statement.

Latvian President ‌Edgars Rinkevics, who is tasked by the constitution to select ‌a leader of ‌the government, will meet all parliamentary parties on Friday.

Silina, of the ⁠centre-right New Unity party, was left without a ruling majority in the parliament on Wednesday after the left-wing Progressives party said it was withdrawing ‌its support.

The decision followed the ​firing over the ‌weekend of Progressives' Defence ⁠Minister Andris Spruds over ⁠the handling of incidents involving stray ‌Ukrainian ​drones flying into ‌Latvia from Russia.

Silina said anti-drone systems had not been deployed fast enough. She appointed Latvian army colonel Raivis Melnis as the new defence minister.

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"The current prime minister does not have nine votes from the Progressives," the party's parliamentary leader Andris Suvajevs told the media after meeting Silina on Wednesday.

"Therefore we call on President Edgars Rinkevics to begin political consultations on the formation of a new government right now," he added.

The prime minister previously shared on social media that she was speaking to her centre-right New Unity party and the other coalition party, the Greens and Farmers Union, regarding their next steps.

Rinkevics was scheduled to meet with all parliamentary factions on Friday, the national broadcaster LSM said.

The opposition party United List said on Wednesday that it would initiate a vote of no confidence in Silina in parliament and would be ready to lead the next government, the BNS news wire reported.

Last week, Latvia and Lithuania called on NATO to boost air defences in their region after two drones came over the Russian border and exploded at an oil storage facility in Latvia.

Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha on Sunday said on X that the drones were Ukrainian, and flew into Latvia as a result of "Russian electronic warfare deliberately diverting Ukrainian drones from their targets in Russia."

In response to the drone incidents, Ukraine is considering sending experts to help strengthen air security over the Baltic states, Sybiha said on Friday.

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