CURRENTTIME — broadcast
20260920 020000 UTC
333 transcript segments
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[00:00:34] This is a typical Lithuanian village, which is literally 10 km from the
[00:00:38] Belarusian border. The peculiarity of this settlement is that by
[00:00:42] twenty-seventh year, one of the largest military training grounds in the country will appear next to it. It is here,
[00:00:46] as military experts say, that the most vulnerable place of NATO is located - the Suwalki
[00:00:49] corridor. The Suwalki corridor is a
[00:00:53] territory between Lithuania and Poland less than 100 km wide. It
[00:00:57] connects the Baltic states with other NATO states. At the same time,
[00:01:01] this is a territory separating Belarus and the Kaliningrad region of Russia, which
[00:01:04] in the event of a military conflict, Moscow and Minsk can seize and
[00:01:08] thereby connect the two countries, and thereby cut off Lithuania, Latvia, and
[00:01:12] Estonia from other partners in the North Atlantic Alliance.
[00:01:15] Already this autumn, as the Wall Street Journal writes, the Kremlin may decide on
[00:01:18] military aggression against the Baltic States and Poland in order to test
[00:01:22] NATO unity, and Lithuanian authorities speak of a potential
[00:01:26] threat from Russia. Since the war in Ukraine is not going
[00:01:29] as Russia planned, they cannot win, to
[00:01:33] this day, explosions are thundering in Russia itself, there is a shortage of fuel,
[00:01:37] Russian society is already asking questions to the Kremlin regime,
[00:01:40] why this is happening and where the promised victory is, the Kremlin,
[00:01:44] Putin needs a new escalation, some new
[00:01:48] victory, and the Baltic region, Poland - this
[00:01:51] is the closest target in this
[00:01:52] case.
[00:01:58] In the border region, where the Kapčiamiestis training ground appeared, preparatory
[00:02:02] work has already begun, roads are being built, infrastructure is being prepared,
[00:02:06] disputes with local residents are being resolved over real estate that will be seized
[00:02:10] for public needs. It is planned that the facility will occupy more than
[00:02:13] 14,000 hectares, where up to
[00:02:16] 4,000 Lithuanian military personnel and NATO allies will be able to be accommodated. Large-scale
[00:02:20] exercises will be held five times a year for 10 days. The Ministry of
[00:02:24] National Defense of Lithuania has commented on the creation of the training ground as
[00:02:27] follows: The Kapčiamiestis
[00:02:30] training ground was established in April 2026. It
[00:02:33] is necessary to increase the combat readiness of the Lithuanian
[00:02:37] armed forces and the formation of a national division by
[00:02:39] 2030. At the training ground, exercises can be conducted simultaneously
[00:02:43] with forces ranging from
[00:02:46] 3,500 to 400 military personnel at
[00:02:49] the brigade level. This facility is important for the
[00:02:53] defense of the southern part of Lithuania and the Suwalki
[00:02:55] corridor. The agency also added that hostile
[00:02:59] rhetoric and actions by Russia against the region are not a
[00:03:02] new phenomenon. Lithuania responds to this with comprehensive measures,
[00:03:06] including an increase in the defense budget, which contributes to
[00:03:09] the continuous buildup of the combat capabilities of the country's
[00:03:13] armed forces. Among the measures to strengthen Lithuania's security are
[00:03:16] strengthening the protection of critical infrastructure facilities,
[00:03:19] and monitoring the security situation in close
[00:03:22] cooperation with allies. Regarding a possible
[00:03:26] attack by Russia, what do they think about the construction of the training ground at the present time? tell us.
[00:03:32] Well, it will be what
[00:03:33] it will be,
[00:03:37] but we are not afraid yet, for now it's quiet,
[00:03:40] everything is fine, no anxiety here,
[00:03:43] no, everything is normal, I don't
[00:03:47] deal with politics, I think it's good that
[00:03:50] it needs to
[00:03:52] be built,
[00:03:55] there is an opinion here that the Suwalki corridor is the most dangerous
[00:03:58] place, what do you think, is there any anxiety, fear in
[00:04:02] you? Yes, what will your actions be in case of
[00:04:05] an attack, I will defend myself, it
[00:04:09] seems to me that he will not come here, he already
[00:04:12] has enough, if he had known that he would not
[00:04:16] win Ukraine, then he would not have gone
[00:04:19] to Ukraine, he thought in 3 days, but
[00:04:23] this is another one,
[00:04:26] one, one he doesn't need, why does he...
[00:04:31] So many of these training grounds we have, empty
[00:04:35] stands, training grounds, well, they say that American intelligence
[00:04:39] writes that Putin may attack the Baltics
[00:04:43] already in autumn, what
[00:04:44] do you think,
[00:04:48] let him, I'm not afraid of anything, nothing
[00:04:50] threatens me. Former commander of the Lithuanian armed forces
[00:04:54] Valdas Tutkus believes that the Kremlin will not start a conflict with NATO
[00:04:58] and open an additional front, as the war in Ukraine is costly for Russia,
[00:05:02] losses at the front, fuel crisis due to attacks by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In addition, the alliance's fifth
[00:05:05] article, according to which an attack on one of the NATO
[00:05:09] countries is equivalent to an attack on the entire organization, has also not
[00:05:13] been canceled. I have always set the task for our armed
[00:05:16] forces to be ready to repel, but we must not
[00:05:19] forget that we are NATO members, this is the most
[00:05:23] important question that causes a lot of discussions, I
[00:05:27] apologize, I consider them empty discussions, will the fifth
[00:05:30] article work or not, this is fortune-telling on coffee
[00:05:33] grounds, the meaning of the alliance is that this article
[00:05:36] exists, the Suwalki corridor considers the ex-commander a really
[00:05:40] narrow territory, but not the most convenient for...
[00:05:42] attack, unlike the transit section to Kaliningrad, where there is a railway
[00:05:46] and other infrastructure. Separate actions of the Ministry of Defense of Valdas
[00:05:50] Tutkus raise questions, we buy a thousand
[00:05:53] trucks, we build a defensive line, although
[00:05:57] we understand perfectly well that modern warfare will not
[00:06:00] go, as I once said, that Guderian has long been dead, that
[00:06:04] is, tank wedges are probably not to be expected, however,
[00:06:08] large sums of money are spent,
[00:06:12] well, on...
[00:07:12] Everyone should know, it has been said many times, everyone should
[00:07:16] know that it will be suicide for those who
[00:07:19] instigate such provocations. In addition to controlling the
[00:07:23] border with the Kaliningrad region of Russia and the Suwalki corridor, other checkpoints
[00:07:27] on the border with Belarus also remain under special attention. Of the
[00:07:30] six checkpoints that previously operated, only two are currently
[00:07:33] active. This is how one of the closed checkpoints
[00:07:37] on the Lithuanian-Belarusian border looks now. Behind me
[00:07:40] are special structures, better known as dragon's teeth, whose purpose
[00:07:43] is to impede any movement of military equipment. In addition to
[00:07:47] preparing for full-scale war, Lithuania has already repeatedly faced
[00:07:51] provocations from Minsk. The organization of illegal immigration and
[00:07:54] cigarette smuggling from Belarus to the EU is called elements of hybrid war in
[00:07:58] Vilnius.
[00:08:01] This tool is used by the Lukashenko regime to
[00:08:04] destabilize the situation in Lithuania. Now on the border with
[00:08:07] Belarus in this particular area there is a rather dynamic
[00:08:11] situation. And I must say that this causes a lot of
[00:08:14] concerns, concerns in Lithuania, in the European
[00:08:17] Union, we really need to be especially
[00:08:20] vigilant in terms of preparing for various types of hybrid actions right
[00:08:24] now on the border with Belarus. Lithuanian
[00:08:27] border guards are preparing for a potential invasion from Belarus and
[00:08:30] Russia, along with the military. Rustam Lyubaev says the
[00:08:33] Suwalki corridor is vulnerable:
[00:08:35] так:
[00:08:39] From the point of view of border control, border
[00:08:43] protection is also a very difficult section, especially when it comes to
[00:08:47] the border with Belarus. You probably know that this section of
[00:08:50] the border was used for a hybrid attack in
[00:08:53] 2021, when Lukashenko began to use
[00:08:56] migration for his own purposes. First to Lithuania, then to
[00:09:00] Poland, and then to Latvia. In this area, in the so-called
[00:09:03] Suwalki corridor, there is also a lot of
[00:09:06] crime. Perhaps this is not directly related to
[00:09:09] national security prospects. I mean,
[00:09:12] it is not directly related to military aggression,
[00:09:16] possible military aggression, however, this
[00:09:18] region is very sensitive from the point of view of border
[00:09:21] management. The office of the President of Lithuania urges members of
[00:09:25] the Seimas to approve defense funding after 2030
[00:09:29] at a level of more than 5-6% of GDP. This
[00:09:31] year, official Vilnius plans to allocate about
[00:09:34] 4.8 billion euros for defense, which is about
[00:09:38] 5.4%. In addition, on August
[00:09:42] 12, the country's authorities supported the proposal of
[00:09:45] the Ministry of National Defense to strengthen defense on the borders with
[00:09:48] Belarus and Russia. Ditches tens of meters wide and additional
[00:09:51] engineering structures will appear at border crossings to impede the movement of military equipment. Also, from
[00:09:55] 2030, the country's authorities plan to restore swamps along
[00:09:59] the borders to stop a potential
[00:10:01] offensive.
[00:10:07] These fortresses on the border of Russia and Estonia were a
[00:10:11] symbol of confrontation.
[00:10:55] expect that we can protect the country's population using only what
[00:10:59] is at the disposal of the state. We say this:
[00:11:02] every bush shoots, every thorn matters. This
[00:11:05] is the approach we see in cooperation with the defense industry, especially
[00:11:09] after the start of Russia's full-scale aggression against Ukraine in
[00:11:13] 2022, our defense industry has grown significantly.
[00:11:16] We see that entrepreneurs are also actively involved
[00:11:19] in this process and think about it with
[00:11:21] us.
[00:11:29] Mobile autonomous surveillance platforms are a product of an Estonian company
[00:11:33] that has been operating in the market for the last 9 years. They are powered by solar
[00:11:36] energy and use software with artificial intelligence
[00:11:40] that analyzes the received images and displays all information on one
[00:11:43] screen. As sad as it is, of course
[00:11:46] a great influence
[00:11:49] was the beginning of the war, because
[00:11:52] as I told you already, that we... decided
[00:11:55] to be next to our Ukrainian
[00:11:59] colleagues from the very beginning almost, because we have been on
[00:12:02] the front lines with them since autumn 2022
[00:12:05] and our technologies are used there,
[00:12:08] and therefore, how to say, it
[00:12:11] certainly gave a big boost. The company with a staff of one
[00:12:14] hundred and fifty people and an annual turnover
[00:12:18] of almost 250 million euros, supplies its product for border protection in
[00:12:22] Estonia and a couple of dozen other countries. You did not want to
[00:12:25] buy,
[00:12:28] let's say, our
[00:12:30] relationship,
[00:12:33] such that we do not
[00:12:35] consider the current situation, the possibility of
[00:12:39] selling such technology in Russia, well, did
[00:12:42] Russia ask or not, of course, there was
[00:12:45] interest, there was, yes, let's say,
[00:12:49] before the war.
[00:12:52] войны.
[00:12:55] Since 2022, the number of companies engaged in defense
[00:12:59] technologies has increased tenfold in Estonia. An association of such
[00:13:02] IT businesses has been created here. This confirms the country's reputation for
[00:13:06] advanced digital technologies, which were purely
[00:13:09] peaceful at the beginning of the century, but have now moved into the defense
[00:13:12] industry.
[00:13:19] These exercises use the technologies of a very young startup, which employs
[00:13:22] only 15 people. The software
[00:13:26] they developed is installed on smartphones, tablets, and other devices on the battlefield,
[00:13:30] to protect data exchange from outside interference, all
[00:13:33] channels are used, radio communications, satellite, or mobile
[00:13:36] networks.
[00:13:41] Estonia is, in some sense, unique. Being a small country, with a relatively
[00:13:44] small industry, we specialize in very advanced
[00:13:48] technologies, not so much in large platforms, like tanks or
[00:13:51] ships, as large countries do, but rather in smart and innovative solutions. technologies
[00:15:10] for the underwater environment and there are many others, but I don't want to disclose all
[00:15:14] the details about them, because they themselves should one day present
[00:15:17] their developments to the world, like many other Estonian
[00:15:21] technologies, these are also used by warring Ukraine.
[00:15:37] is Ukraine. We have established very good cooperation not
[00:15:41] only at the state level with the ministry, but also between companies,
[00:15:44] as well as between business and government agencies. And, of course,
[00:15:48] it is not only about testing, first of all, it is support, assistance to the armed
[00:15:51] forces of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people, so that they can defend their country,
[00:15:55] their people and the freedom of
[00:15:57] Ukraine.
[00:15:59] As part of state support for private companies, Estonia created
[00:16:03] a special fund called SmartCap at the beginning of
[00:16:06] 2025, but its experience, unlike energetic
[00:16:09] private companies, turned out to be not the best
[00:16:12] example.
[00:16:15] The Estonian government created this defense fund and allocated 100
[00:16:19] million euros to it. But at the moment, most of this money
[00:16:22] is simply lying in the fund's accounts. They have not yet actually reached
[00:16:26] real companies or other funds, they are not yet working, not
[00:16:30] creating any results. The reason is that the fund takes too
[00:16:33] long to make investment decisions. We had problems
[00:16:36] with this. There were other mistakes, I think if you look
[00:16:40] at any country, mistakes are inevitable, this is normal and
[00:16:43] is a natural part of the process, but it is very important
[00:16:47] to correct such mistakes as soon
[00:16:49] as possible.
[00:16:55] At the local level, Estonian business helps the Defense League,
[00:16:59] a voluntary paramilitary organization, by sponsoring local exercises, for example,
[00:17:02] like these, where they practice mass evacuation and drone
[00:17:06] control training.
[00:17:10] we cooperate with private business, including in the training of
[00:17:14] drone operators, the Estonian Defense League has its own
[00:17:17] drone unit where we train operators,
[00:17:20] especially I would say young people, people in
[00:17:23] their twenties, thirties, maybe forties, because
[00:17:26] it's much easier for young people to handle all this, including piloting
[00:17:30] drones, the current young generation is essentially born with
[00:17:34] a phone in their hand. Estonian military training. Friday
[00:18:19] evening, Evita is preparing to participate in the competitive military
[00:18:23] exercise Zemessardze patrol, packs her backpack, checks her
[00:18:26] equipment, applies camouflage makeup, ahead
[00:18:29] are dozens of kilometers on foot, tactical tasks - minimum
[00:18:33] sleep. Evita is participating in the patrol
[00:18:35] for the first time. can be translated into Russian as land
[00:18:49] defense or territorial defense, it is part of the Latvian
[00:18:52] army, a formation that one can join voluntarily and
[00:18:56] serve in their free time on weekends. Evita joined
[00:19:00] Zemessardze after her husband. The events of 2022, the
[00:19:03] full-scale Russian invasion, played a significant role in this decision.
[00:20:15] I know that it will all end after 21
[00:20:18] hours, so you just have to endure 21 hours.
[00:20:34] in our country in the 90s.
[00:20:37] "People went to training, well , what kind of uniforms
[00:20:40] ,
[00:20:45] no tactical vests, they bought their own
[00:20:48] weapons privately.
[00:21:06] after the actual restoration of Latvia's independence in 1991,
[00:21:09] says Raimonds
[00:21:11] Graube, today a general and former commander of the Latvian
[00:21:14] army, back in 1991, a participant in
[00:21:18] the barricade confrontation.
[00:21:32] a decision was made that this building would be transferred to
[00:21:34] its disposal, and fate decreed that I was one
[00:21:38] of the six people who first entered this building, we hadn't even been issued
[00:21:41] uniforms yet, so we were taking it over, there was
[00:21:44] emptiness, old documents lay on the floor,
[00:21:47] subsequently Raimonds Graube became commander.
[00:21:57] the general recalls, there was a security vacuum in the country. The
[00:21:59] Soviet army finally left Latvia only in
[00:22:03] ninety-four, throughout the entire modern history, the Latvian
[00:22:07] army was multinational, says
[00:22:09] Graube.
[00:22:12] As an example, I will say that we have six fallen soldiers in international
[00:22:16] military operations, two of whom are Latvian citizens of Russian
[00:23:20] origin. I hadn't thought about Zemessardze and didn't know what it was about, except what I saw in movies,
[00:23:23] but when the invasion began, I realized
[00:23:27] that if it spread to Europe, then I needed to
[00:23:30] acquire some skills to be able to protect both
[00:23:33] the state and my family. Nikita says that over the years, some
[00:23:37] people lose motivation, get tired of serving on weekends, or are
[00:23:40] unable to combine it with their main job, yet the number of
[00:23:43] Zemessargs in Latvia continues to grow, today it is about
[00:23:47] 10 thousand people, Nikita's native language.
[00:24:20] We all speak Latvian there, even if I understand that for a person
[00:24:23] Russian may be their native language, we still speak
[00:24:26] Latvian. The motivation of Latvian residents to defend the country in case
[00:24:30] of an external invasion threat is not in doubt, says Member of
[00:24:34] Parliament, former commander of the Latvian
[00:24:37] Ground Forces, Igor Raev. However, in his opinion, the defense
[00:24:41] system as such in Latvia still does not quite
[00:24:44] correspond to the rapidly changing
[00:24:46] world.
[00:26:58] ultimately took first place in these army competitions, the winners were awarded by the Latvian Defense Minister at the celebration, according to Evita. there was no time or
[00:27:01] energy left, the Zemessargs went home,
[00:27:05] to their families,
[00:27:06] or to turn the country into
[00:27:11] a military camp? I think he will simply be doomed to follow
[00:27:15] the second path, to turn it into a military camp, that means
[00:27:18] conducting pseudo-mobilization, naturally this word will not
[00:27:22] be uttered, because they were badly
[00:27:24] burned by it in 2022, but de facto it
[00:27:28] will be carried out, people with...
[00:28:02] elections the picture will become even clearer
[00:28:06] and most importantly, it is predictable, everyone understands
[00:28:09] what we are talking about now, after the elections
[00:28:13] they will start tightening the screws, in terms of money and
[00:28:17] mobilization measures and restriction of human
[00:28:20] rights, including the right to vote, well, all this will happen in
[00:28:24] October, will unfold in November, from December
[00:28:28] a window of opportunity will open, about which
[00:29:07] raids, cops will twist people, pressure them, force
[00:29:10] them to sign contracts, you come with grandma, no, please, don't come anywhere
[00:29:14] with grandma, let grandma go alone herself, this is because people are simply not
[00:29:17] informed, they tell you, do you want to die in prison or in war, Prigozhin,
[00:29:21] by the way, was more effective than the opposite, it was just some kind of
[00:29:24] media.
[00:29:35] reporter.
[00:29:39] The AI industry is rapidly developing, giant data centers are appearing
[00:29:42] in the US, but concerns are growing.
[00:29:46] Power plants emit a lot of pollutants.
[00:29:48] Across the country, families are debating what
[00:29:52] this means in practice when huge data centers appear
[00:29:56] near them. Many are losing what is
[00:29:59] dear to them. We were offered.
[00:30:45] We love this place for the land, for the countryside where our
[00:30:49] girls grow up, they love to play in the forest, they spend all their
[00:30:52] time
[00:30:53] outdoors,