CURRENTTIME — broadcast
20260806 120000 UTC
311 transcript segments
Google Cloud Speech-to-Text API (Chirp) + Gemini 2.5 Flash Non-Thinking
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Machine transcription. Treat it as a searchable index of what was broadcast, not a verbatim quotation record.

[00:00:34] Riga bus station. Daily passenger buses depart from here,
[00:00:38] including to Russia and Belarus. The Latvian
[00:00:41] government plans to ban bus services to these
[00:00:44] countries. Politicians refer to the conclusions of law enforcement agencies that
[00:00:47] bus communication between Latvia and Russia and Belarus threatens
[00:00:51] national security. Passenger traffic between Latvia
[00:00:55] and Russia and Belarus is already reduced to a minimum. Planes to these
[00:00:58] countries from Latvia, trains do not run, only
[00:01:02] buses remain, while the State Security Service of Latvia, like
[00:01:05] the country's Foreign Ministry, regularly urges Latvian residents not to
[00:01:08] travel to Russia and Belarus, which Latvia, after the full-scale
[00:01:12] invasion of Ukraine, officially considers to be
[00:01:15] aggressor countries. In the current geopolitical conditions, trips
[00:01:19] to Russia and Belarus are dangerous, on their territory, the special services of these
[00:01:23] countries, in order to obtain valuable information and force
[00:01:26] cooperation, can use aggressive and illegal methods.
[00:02:30] They go for business, they go, I don't know, the Latvian
[00:02:34] embassy still comes, asks us to take
[00:02:37] a person who will get a visa at the border, and such people
[00:02:41] exist, because the embassy doesn't have time to issue, for example, a close relative
[00:02:44] died, mother, father, someone else, and even such people exist, that is, people come
[00:02:48] to us with a special document from the Latvian
[00:02:52] embassy, we take them on the bus, because drivers must check visas,
[00:02:55] he doesn't have a visa, this visa is opened for him at the border. According to
[00:02:59] the Latvian Road Transport Directorate, currently in Latvia
[00:03:02] 21 permits have been issued for regular
[00:03:05] bus services to third countries, that is, outside
[00:03:09] the European Union. Here is the list: a significant part
[00:03:12] of the destinations are Ukrainian cities, Kyiv, Odesa, and
[00:03:15] others. Also from Riga you can go to Moscow and
[00:03:18] St. Petersburg, to Minsk with a transfer in Vilnius. In
[00:03:22] the Latvian Association of Carriers they say that in fact only
[00:03:25] direct routes can be banned. Another thing is transit
[00:03:28] flights. For example, a Latvian carrier takes you to the border,
[00:03:32] on the other side a Russian or
[00:03:35] Belarusian bus is already waiting. If you don't close, don't completely block
[00:03:39] the border, yes, well, that is, completely closed for the crossing
[00:03:42] of any transport, pedestrians, there,
[00:03:46] well, they, they can close there cyclists, they didn't close for bicycles
[00:03:49] before, they moved on mopeds there, yes, but
[00:03:53] then they closed it, because a lot of people were moving, well, there are
[00:03:56] two options, either you completely close the border, that's it.
[00:05:02] I think it's stupid, people need to go anywhere, there are relatives
[00:05:05] and friends everywhere, we are not closed, well, if there is demand, why
[00:05:09] not, as long as there is demand, if if.
[00:05:42] that people will not be able to move, international affairs are one thing, and
[00:05:46] communication is another. Another challenge for Latvian carriers this
[00:05:50] year was the surge in fuel prices against the backdrop of the escalating conflict in the Middle
[00:05:54] East. Ecolines company, for example, stopped all commercial
[00:05:58] bus services within Latvia. The company stated that
[00:06:01] the decision was made due to the lack of state support and rising
[00:06:05] costs.
[00:06:13] Juliana has lived in Latvia all her conscious life, graduated from
[00:06:16] school in Riga, studied at the University of Latvia, works,
[00:06:20] hosts an intellectual quiz. Recently,
[00:06:23] a friend sent Juliana a link to a report on Latvian television about
[00:06:27] a young man who, in addition to Latvian citizenship,
[00:06:30] also has Russian citizenship, which means he could now lose
[00:06:34] his Latvian passport. "Does this not concern you by any chance?" asked
[00:06:37] Juliana's friend.
[00:06:40] At that moment, I sat down and thought. Perhaps this really
[00:06:44] concerns me, all these years I hadn't thought about it. Juliana also
[00:06:47] has dual citizenship, Latvian and Russian. She was born in
[00:06:51] Moscow, went to first grade there, and then, when she was 7
[00:06:55] years old, she and her family moved to Latvia, to the ethnic homeland
[00:06:58] of Juliana's mother. The girl has few memories of life in Russia,
[00:07:01] but a few vivid images
[00:07:04] have remained.
[00:07:06] We had a country house quite far from Moscow, in such a real Russian
[00:07:10] backwater, where twice a week.
[00:08:12] full confidence that it would somehow be resolved someday,
[00:08:15] now when I think about it, it seems silly to me. Why
[00:08:19] is the situation Juliana found herself in threatening her with the loss of her Latvian
[00:08:23] passport? Latvian law prohibits dual citizenship for persons over
[00:08:26] 25 years old.
[00:08:29] The exceptions are countries of the European Union, of which Latvia is a part, and
[00:08:33] a number of other countries. Russia and Belarus are not included in this list. In other
[00:08:37] words, when a person reaches adulthood, 18 years old,
[00:08:40] enters adult life, he
[00:08:42] has 7 years to, if he wants to retain Latvian citizenship,
[00:08:46] renounce the second Russian one. In practice,
[00:08:49] renouncing a Russian passport is not so easy, say those who
[00:08:53] go through this process. It is necessary to overcome a number
[00:08:56] of bureaucratic procedures that can take years.
[00:09:00] In some cases, documents are needed that can only be obtained by
[00:09:03] physically traveling to Russia. Juliana says that
[00:09:07] this option does not
[00:09:08] suit her.
[00:10:25] if he stops the renunciation process, then Latvian citizenship can indeed be
[00:10:29] taken away. If a person is still deprived of Latvian
[00:10:32] citizenship, he can apply for a Latvian residence permit or
[00:10:36] go through the naturalization process and re-obtain a Latvian passport,
[00:10:39] again, by renouncing his Russian one. The deprivation
[00:10:43] of citizenship can be challenged in court, however, as lawyers note,
[00:10:46] the court in such cases more often sides with the state. For example,
[00:10:50] one can apply to the European Court of Human Rights, for example, if then
[00:10:54] the person in... expresses, for example, expulsion, yes, that is,
[00:10:57] the only thing that the consequence of deprivation of citizenship can be that
[00:11:00] a person is forced to lose some family
[00:11:04] or kinship ties, but
[00:11:07] again, since this is mainly a matter of national
[00:11:10] competence, such cases exist, but they often do not
[00:11:13] reach international courts. Juliana is currently in a waiting
[00:11:17] mode, she has put herself on the waiting list for a visit to the Russian embassy to
[00:11:20] clarify the status of her Russian citizenship, she is waiting for an answer from
[00:11:23] the Latvian migration service.
[00:11:57] The complete cessation of trade and economic ties with Russia and
[00:12:00] Belarus has been discussed in the Latvian government for more than a year since the
[00:12:03] full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February
[00:12:06] 2022. Latvia, like the neighboring Baltic countries,
[00:12:09] unequivocally condemned the attack, recognized Russia as an aggressor
[00:12:13] country, and Belarus as its accomplice. Latvia, Lithuania, and
[00:12:16] Estonia are consistently severing ties with Russia at all levels. On the other
[00:12:20] hand, for 4 years of full-scale war, Latvia
[00:12:23] has been recognized as a leader of the European Union.
[00:12:55] We are fighting to be able to balance the political goal with economic
[00:12:58] consequences, yes, this may have negative economic
[00:13:02] consequences, but in the short term, in the long
[00:13:05] term, I believe this will have positive economic
[00:13:08] consequences. Let's look at the statistics, last
[00:13:11] year, 2025, Latvia exported goods to Russia worth
[00:13:15] over 962 million euros. Almost half
[00:13:18] of this is the already mentioned alcohol, this is according to data from the Central
[00:13:22] Statistical Bureau of Latvia. Last year,
[00:13:25] Russia was in sixth place among Latvia's main export partners.
[00:13:29] Compare this with the figures before the war in 2021, when
[00:13:33] supplies peaked. Latvia exported goods to Russia worth
[00:13:36] 1,197
[00:13:38] million euros, a total decrease of
[00:13:40] 19.20%.
[00:13:43] In fact, the Latvian government says, today we are talking about transit
[00:13:47] exports, that is, deliveries to Russia of goods from other countries
[00:13:50] through Latvia. In imports, that is, deliveries from Russia to
[00:13:54] Latvia. The collapse after the start of the full-scale war is critical,
[00:13:57] according to official data, 93%. The Latvian
[00:14:01] Ministry of Economics says that from a moral and ethical standpoint, a complete
[00:14:05] refusal to trade with Russia is understandable, but in practice, such
[00:14:08] a decision will not have much effect. Goods will continue to be supplied
[00:14:12] to Russia through other EU
[00:14:14] countries.
[00:14:19] Sometimes the argument is heard that we need to make life difficult for Russia by introducing such a ban in Latvia that we will not export to Russia, for example, alcohol.
[00:14:22] экспортировать в Россию, например, алкого.
[00:14:25] But if other countries do not do the same, then it is clear that these goods
[00:14:29] will still end up in Russia, through Hungary or Slovakia,
[00:14:33] the most prominent examples. The initiators of the ban respond by saying that
[00:14:36] the goal is to set an example for other European countries to influence
[00:14:40] decision-makers in Brussels. What do Latvian
[00:14:43] traders think about the proposal to completely sever economic
[00:14:47] relations with the eastern neighbor? In the Chamber of Commerce and Industry,
[00:14:50] the largest business association in Latvia, they say that today such
[00:14:54] a decision would cost Latvia approximately 1-2%
[00:14:58] of national GDP. We, like the LTRK, in
[00:15:02] the Chamber of Commerce and Industry also urge to cease any
[00:15:05] cooperation with Russia and Belarus. At the same time, we do not
[00:15:08] live on a desert island, it is a global world. It is clear that some
[00:15:12] enterprises in South America or Africa, Asia look
[00:15:15] differently at our region. Many of them consider Russia a suitable
[00:15:19] partner, so completely banning something in our world
[00:15:23] is impossible. What can we do?
[00:15:37] ore, a mineral that Russia can use in
[00:15:41] the arms industry and, accordingly, in the war against
[00:15:44] Ukraine. The ban was included in the fourteenth package of anti-Russian
[00:15:47] sanctions, adopted by EU countries in the summer of 2024.
[00:15:51] Before that, investigative journalists found out that in 2023,
[00:15:55] Estonia and Latvia accounted for almost 90%
[00:15:58] of the transit of manganese ore sent to Russia.
[00:16:00] And since the beginning of the full-scale war, the volumes of these supplies have grown
[00:16:04] exponentially. Manganese ore is just one
[00:16:08] example, says Estonian economist Ron Luvischuk. This
[00:16:11] year, investigators found out that an Irish factory, partly
[00:16:15] owned by Russian billionaire Oleg
[00:16:18] Deripaska, is suspected of supplying alumina to
[00:16:21] Russian factories that produce weapons for the war in
[00:16:24] Ukraine. An Estonian company may be involved in ensuring
[00:16:28] the logistics of these supplies. Formally,
[00:16:31] this is not a sanctioned
[00:16:35] product. This alumina,
[00:16:37] no one prohibits business from conducting
[00:16:41] this, well, making
[00:16:44] such deals, because indeed, well, the ship does not enter
[00:16:48] Estonian ports, it goes from
[00:16:51] Ireland to Russia, aluminum
[00:16:53] is used, among other things, in military equipment,
[00:16:57] and here's the question, for aluminum, I don't know,
[00:17:01] you could just take a pen, there's an aluminum
[00:17:04] part here, or it's also made and we are like...
[00:18:07] needs some raw materials from Russia and doesn't want to
[00:18:10] highlight it, there are many legal ways to
[00:18:13] do this, introduce some intermediary who will appear in
[00:18:17] all the lists, but this will not reflect the real picture, or
[00:18:21] some hypothetical enterprise declares cargo to Kazakhstan at customs,
[00:18:24] that is, no connection with exports to Russia and corresponding
[00:18:28] lists, but no one knows
[00:19:38] a real threat: there are criteria for launch,
[00:19:41] if they are violated, the launch will be canceled.
[00:19:45] Problems with hydrogen leakage occurred even in the times of the Space Shuttles, and we
[00:19:49] successfully solved them. In the situation with Artemis and the
[00:19:52] SLS rocket, it is important to remember that this was actually the first time these
[00:19:55] systems interacted as a single
[00:19:58] unit.
[00:20:33] We moved from Russia practically without money, without work, without pay.
[00:20:37] Back in April, we only started thinking about moving, honestly, I cried
[00:20:41] all day, how to leave family, friends, all the familiar
[00:20:44] life. So, just yesterday, work, home
[00:20:48] and familiar life.
[00:21:07] The new wave of escape from Russia is not as noisy and massive as in
[00:21:10] 2022, it is more prepared and much
[00:21:14] more silent. Support our work with your
[00:21:17] comment under this video. Join the discussion
[00:21:20] and share your experience of life in today's
[00:21:23] Russia, if it is safe for you,
[00:21:27] let's go. Russians fleeing with their families from mobilization,
[00:21:30] fearing possible repression from the state,
[00:21:33] do not directly state the reasons for their escape, some
[00:21:37] use the phrase: you yourselves understand what is being talked about,
[00:21:40] we decided that first we would calmly prepare, I would close
[00:21:44] the studio, save money and leave in the fall, but life
[00:21:47] decided otherwise, already in May a letter came to... public services, I think
[00:21:51] you yourselves understand what is being talked about, at that moment it became clear,
[00:21:55] there was no more time, a week later my husband flew to
[00:21:58] Sri Lanka, alone, for the first time abroad, without a job
[00:22:01] on the money we managed to scrape together, three
[00:22:04] weeks later I arrived, the main lesson of the collective experience of those who fled
[00:22:08] mobilization in 2022, now it is necessary to act
[00:22:12] preventively, leave Russia, as those in the mobilization
[00:22:16] risk group believe, without waiting for a summons from
[00:22:18] the military enlistment office. That if you pack all your belongings, withdraw
[00:22:22] all your money from all accounts, buy a "seven" with it,
[00:22:26] pack all your belongings into this "seven"
[00:22:29] and leave Ulyanovsk for said that this car would not cope,
[00:22:32] so we simply decided to take it and check it, that's how our
[00:22:36] great journey began, while everyone dreams, we just
[00:22:39] take, start the "seven" and drive it
[00:22:43] forward, into our bright future, kilometer - rock, uncertainty
[00:22:46] ahead, breakdowns, stops and... and nothing
[00:22:50] stopped us, we didn't want to turn back, no matter what, we only drove
[00:22:54] forward, every kilometer brought us closer to our little
[00:22:57] dream, to our new life from
[00:23:00] scratch, and we did it and yes, the "seven"
[00:23:03] made it. Russians are now mainly fleeing mobilization
[00:23:07] to Georgia and Armenia, we didn't dare to talk about it for a long
[00:23:10] time, in general we are leaving the city,
[00:23:14] and not for two weeks, yes
[00:23:17] we are moving permanently, but... or not for
[00:23:20] long? On July 10, we pack up our whole
[00:23:24] life, put our son in a car seat and leave for
[00:23:28] Armenia. The funniest thing is that we are driving there
[00:23:31] in a car, 2,000 km, mountains,
[00:23:34] passes, traffic jams at the border, and
[00:23:38] cats, of course, are with us. Friends
[00:23:41] are tapping their temples, asking,
[00:23:43] why? And we just realized that if we don't do
[00:23:47] it now, we never will. Here's what Georgy
[00:23:51] says about his urgent move from Russia. The day before
[00:23:54] we left, they made us international passports in just two weeks, we
[00:23:58] quit our jobs and
[00:24:01] bought a bus ticket Rostov-Yerevan. This is
[00:24:04] Rostislav, his escape from Russia is also connected with
[00:24:07] his unwillingness to be mobilized. My move was unplanned, it was super
[00:24:11] spontaneous, so I first got a job in delivery, so that I could find
[00:24:14] a normal job later. Without waiting for a summons from
[00:24:17] the military enlistment office, Ivan left
[00:24:20] in May 2026, this is me driving in the car,
[00:24:23] it turns out, to the construction site, this is me after I did
[00:24:27] everything, such a dirty guy, things
[00:24:30] are packed, in Armenia he got a job as a wall
[00:24:34] grinder, a year ago I was the director of a communications salon,
[00:24:37] suit, KPI, sales plan, everything was serious, I was 19 years old,
[00:24:41] I already had a position, I thought, this is it, this is life, everything is going as
[00:24:44] it should, now I am sitting on a bench in Yerevan, without a position, without
[00:24:48] a stable job, wife.
[00:25:50] I am 18 years old and I moved to another country alone, or rather,
[00:25:54] to Vietnam for now, in 2026
[00:25:58] relocation is not just a change of residence, but
[00:26:01] the only way.
[00:26:10] with each passing day, children will increasingly learn to be in a vacuum and
[00:26:14] isolation, instead of knowledge in school, more and more ideological
[00:26:17] indoctrination, substitution of true history and human
[00:26:20] concepts, raise a child to be an obedient cog in the system and
[00:26:24] future cannon fodder. An interesting detail: in Yandex search
[00:26:28] engines, the number of queries about moving to other countries reached
[00:26:31] a maximum. This is stated in the statistical report of the company, compared to
[00:26:35] the first quarter of last year, in the spring of 2026,
[00:26:39] Russians began to ask three times more often how and where to
[00:26:42] leave Russia, only in March, according to the newspaper
[00:26:46] Vedomosti, there were about 40,000 such queries. I
[00:26:49] didn't want to leave my country, although I had extensive international experience,
[00:26:53] international exchange, education, and so on, but nevertheless I didn't want
[00:26:57] to live in Russia, and I think this is a
[00:27:00] vector for many people, and... now everyone understands that there is
[00:27:04] no future, well, that is, hypothetically there is no
[00:27:08] image of the future, there is no understanding of what will happen in six months, in
[00:27:11] a year, and moreover, there are risks that are associated, among other things, with
[00:27:15] mobilization, with military conscription, which people
[00:27:19] feel on themselves, well, actually, they make decisions based
[00:27:22] on this, such a wave as it was in September 2022,
[00:27:26] after the announcement in Russia of partial mobilization, when half a million
[00:30:06] 2022, the war changed everything, we are showing a new history
[00:30:09] of Ukraine, about incredible strength of spirit, about
[00:30:13] fighting, no matter
[00:30:14] what.
[00:30:19] Watch the joint project of Radio Liberty and the Current Time TV
[00:30:23] channel, what is really happening in
[00:30:26] Ukraine.
[00:30:38] In a matter of seconds, an explosion destroys the cooling towers of a nuclear power plant,
[00:30:42] an impressive sight, but
[00:30:45] dismantling the entire station takes decades, this
[00:30:48] happens because many materials are radioactive and cannot simply
[00:30:52] be disposed of as nuclear waste used to be.
[00:30:54] Nuclear energy.
[00:30:58] Атомная энергетика.