Comment on the Latvian Foreign Ministry’s talking points for Latvian officials justifying Riga’s decision to give up participation in Nord Stream 2

Submitted on Fri, 05/26/2017 - 08:05

Comment by the Information and Press Department on the Latvian Foreign Ministry’s talking points for Latvian officials justifying Riga’s decision to give up participation in Nord Stream 2

As there is no real legal basis to oppose this obviously promising and economically beneficial project, its opponents have had to come up with increasingly absurd arguments to justify their destructive position.

In this context we could not help but note the talking points prepared by the Latvian Foreign Ministry for Latvian ministers that contain the “correct” explanation of the Government’s decision not to support efforts related to Nord Stream 2. They are more absurd than any previous statements by Latvian officials.

For example, they rely on scaremongering that the storage of pipes in the port of Ventspils may threaten the unity of the EU and NATO or that “Russian spies” may infiltrate the country “to undermine the main principles of environmental protection.”

The Latvian Foreign Ministry will apparently stop at nothing to complicate the construction of Nord Stream 2, even resorting to outright deception. This level of reasoning does not reflect well on Latvian diplomacy.