The Prime Minister of Latvia resigned from her post on Thursday after the rupture of the government coalition following the impact of two Ukrainian drones lost in an energy infrastructure project. “I announce my resignation from the post of Prime Minister”, announced Evika Silina at a press conference in Riga.
The political crisis began with failures in the protection of airspace resulting from the explosion of a Ukrainian drone in the country, which had already led Evika Silina to request the resignation of her Defense Minister.
The two Ukrainian drones, apparently under Russian electronic influence, deviated from their route last weekend and entered Latvian airspace, where they caused an explosion when they collided with an empty oil tank in Rezekne, 60 kilometers from the Russian border.
Crisis, dismissals and exchange of accusations
Silina’s party, Nova Unity, blamed the then Defense Minister, the social democrat Andris Spruds, for the failure to intercept the drones and forced his resignation, while the Progressives party, to which the now former Defense Minister belongs, denounced the Prime Minister for not having informed them of her intention to remove him and for politicizing a military issue, discrediting the Armed Forces.
Faced with the prime minister’s demand, the co-president of the Progressives party, Andris Suvajevs, called for Evika Silina’s resignation.
“Either Evika Silina announces her resignation or Saeima [parlamento] put an end to all this with a motion of no confidence”, he told the press.
Suvajevs, a candidate for October’s legislative elections, also considered that the prime minister “overthrew her own government” and became “incapable of governing”, urging Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics to prepare consultations with the various parties for the appointment of a new prime minister.
Meanwhile, the other coalition partner stated that the Government had “effectively collapsed”, as declared by its leader, Harijs Rokpelnis, and also called for the start of negotiations to form a new parliamentary majority.
With the withdrawal of support from Nova Unity partners, the government coalition – in power since 2023 – lost its majority in Latvia’s unicameral parliament on Wednesday.
The Latvian president had scheduled a meeting for Friday with all groups represented in the Latvian parliament to address the current political crisis.
