Lithuanian Interior Minister Agne Bilotaite is hosting officials from seven Baltic countries in Vilnius for talks on critical infrastructure security following a recent Baltic Sea incident. The summit comes after Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said she has “reason to believe” the multiple cases of damage to Baltic Sea critical infrastructure earlier this month are related to each other. Before the European Council Summit on Thursday, Kallas also met with Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson to discuss the undersea infrastructure investigation.
The latest meeting of the Baltic seven will focus on hybrid threats, border protection, migration, and civil protection. Information and cyber security are also on the agenda, following a wave of hoax bomb threats targeting Baltic establishments. Bilotaite said that all countries with borders with Russia and Belarus face similar challenges, primarily illegal migration and hybrid attacks. The ministers could also agree on common criteria for closing borders with Belarus and Russia.
„The aim of this meeting is to talk about common threats, joint actions and collective resilience in a broad format of as many as seven countries,” said Bilotaite.