Google Cloud Speech-to-Text API (Chirp) + Gemini 2.5 Flash Non-Thinking. Treat it as a searchable index of what was broadcast, not a quotation record.
00:00:34Riga bus station. Every day passenger buses depart from here,
00:00:38including to Russia and Belarus. The Latvian
00:00:41government plans to ban bus services to these
00:00:44countries. Politicians refer to the conclusions of law enforcement agencies that
00:00:47bus communication between Latvia and Russia and Belarus threatens
00:00:51national security. Passenger traffic between Latvia
00:00:55and Russia and Belarus is already minimized. Planes to these
00:00:58countries from Latvia are not allowed.
00:01:10not to travel to Russia and Belarus, which Latvia, after
00:01:13the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, officially considers
00:01:17aggressor countries. In the current geopolitical conditions, trips to Russia and Belarus
00:01:20are dangerous; on their territory, the special services of these countries, in order to obtain
00:01:24valuable information and compel cooperation, can
00:01:27use aggressive and illegal methods.
00:02:30don't go for business, they go, I don't know,
00:02:33until now the Latvian embassy comes and asks
00:02:36us to take a person who will have a visa opened at the border,
00:02:40and there are such people, because the embassy doesn't have time to open, for example, a close
00:02:44relative died, mother, father, someone else, and there are even
00:02:47such people, that is, people come to us with a special
00:02:50document from the Latvian embassy, we take them on the bus, because drivers
00:02:54must check visas, he doesn't have a visa, this visa is opened for him at the border,
00:02:58according to the Latvian Road Transport Directorate, currently
00:03:0221 permits have been issued in Latvia for
00:03:05regular bus services to third countries, that is,
00:03:08outside the European Union. Here is the list: a significant part
00:03:12of the destinations are Ukrainian cities, Kyiv, Odesa, and
00:03:16others. Also, from Riga, you can go to Moscow and
00:03:19St. Petersburg, to Minsk with a transfer in Vilnius. In
00:03:22the Latvian Association of Carriers, they say that in fact, only direct routes
00:03:26can be banned. It's a different matter for flights with transfers.
00:03:30For example, a Latvian carrier takes you to the border, and on the other side
00:03:33a Russian or Belarusian bus is already waiting. If
00:03:37you don't close, don't block the border completely, right? Well, that is,
00:03:41completely closed for the crossing of any transport,
00:03:44pedestrians, there, well, they, they can close for cyclists there,
00:03:48they used to travel by bicycle before they closed it, they moved on mopeds there,
00:03:52yes, but then they closed it, because a lot of people
00:03:55were moving, well, there are two options, either you completely block the border
00:03:59entirely.
00:06:13Juliana has lived in Latvia her entire conscious life, graduated from
00:06:17school in Riga, studied at the University of Latvia, works,
00:06:20hosts an intellectual quiz. Recently,
00:06:23a friend sent Juliana a link to a story on Latvian television about
00:06:27a young man who, in addition to Latvian citizenship,
00:06:31also has Russian, because of which he may now be deprived
00:06:34of his Latvian passport. "Does this accidentally not concern you?" asked
00:06:38Juliana's friend.
00:06:40At that moment, I sat down and thought. Perhaps this really
00:06:44concerns me, all these years I haven't thought about it. Juliana also has
00:06:47dual citizenship, Latvian and Russian, she was born in
00:06:51Moscow, went to first grade there, and then, when she was 7
00:06:55years old, she and her family moved to Latvia, to the ethnic homeland
00:06:58of Juliana's mother. The girl has few memories of life in Russia,
00:07:02but several vivid images
00:08:12in full confidence that this would somehow be resolved someday, now
00:08:16when I think about it, it seems foolish to me. Why
00:08:19the situation in which Juliana finds herself threatens her with the loss of her Latvian
00:08:23passport. The current legislation in Latvia prohibits having
00:08:26dual citizenship for persons over 25 years old. The exception
00:08:30is the countries of the European Union, of which Latvia is a part, and
00:08:33a number of other countries. Russia and Belarus are not included in this list. In other
00:08:37words, when a person reaches adulthood, 18 years old,
00:08:40enters adult life, he has 7 years to, if he
00:08:44wants to retain Latvian citizenship, renounce
00:08:47his second Russian one. In practice, renouncing a Russian
00:08:50passport is not so simple, say those who go through this process.
00:08:54It is necessary to overcome a number of bureaucratic procedures
00:08:58that can drag on for years. In some cases,
00:09:01documents are needed that can only be obtained by physically
00:09:04traveling to Russia. Juliana says that this
00:09:07option does not suit her.
00:09:10I cannot risk going to Russia now, because I held
00:09:14events here in support of Ukraine, this is publicly
00:09:17available information, and although opinions about what Russia
00:09:21sees and what it doesn't see differ, no one
00:09:24wants to check it. According to official data, today in Latvia
00:09:27there are more than 4,000 people with
00:09:30dual citizenship of Latvia and Russia, most of them are under
00:09:3425 years old, meaning they do not violate the law. The
00:09:38Latvian migration service provided us with statistics that
00:09:41indicate that the number of cases of deprivation of Latvian
00:09:44passport due to second Russian citizenship has increased
00:09:48in recent years, and in 2025
00:09:51compared to 2024, by more than three times. The
00:09:55Latvian parliament recognizes that a problem has emerged when a person
00:09:58wants to be a citizen of Latvia, but for objective reasons cannot
00:10:02fulfill the requirements of the law.
00:10:05I think we could achieve adding provisions to
00:10:08the Citizenship Law stating that if a person has started the process of renouncing
00:10:13their second citizenship, and for objective reasons this process continues, then the person
00:10:17retains Latvian citizenship, meaning they have
00:10:20Latvian citizenship and an active process of renouncing their second
00:10:23citizenship. At the same time, if they stop the renunciation process, then
00:10:27Latvian citizenship can indeed be revoked. If a person
00:10:30is nevertheless deprived of Latvian citizenship, they can apply
00:10:34for a Latvian residence permit or go through the naturalization process and
00:10:38re-obtain a Latvian passport, again, by renouncing
00:10:41their Russian one. It is possible to challenge the deprivation of citizenship in court,
00:10:45however, as lawyers note, the court in such cases more often
00:10:48sides with the state. For example, one can apply to the European Court
00:10:51of Human Rights, for instance, if a person is then threatened with
00:10:55expulsion, right? So the only thing is that the consequence
00:10:58of losing citizenship can be that a person is forced to lose
00:11:02some family or or kinship
00:11:06ties, but again, since this is mainly a matter of
00:11:09national competence, such cases exist, but often they do not reach
00:11:13international courts. Juliana is currently in a waiting
00:11:17mode; she has joined the queue for a visit to the Russian embassy to
00:11:20clarify the status of her Russian citizenship, awaiting a response from the
00:11:23Latvian migration office.
00:11:57The complete cessation of trade and economic ties with Russia and
00:12:00Belarus has been discussed by the Latvian government for not the first year since
00:12:03the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
00:12:06Latvia, like the neighboring Baltic countries,
00:12:09unequivocally condemned the attack, recognized Russia as an aggressor
00:12:13country, and Belarus as its accomplice. Latvia, Lithuania, and
00:12:16Estonia are consistently breaking ties with Russia at all levels. On the
00:12:20other hand, during 4 years of full-scale war, Latvia
00:12:23was recognized as a leader in the import of agricultural
00:12:26products from Russia, as well as a champion in
00:12:30supplying alcohol, particularly whiskey,
00:12:32to its eastern neighbor. One of the ruling Latvian parties,
00:12:36the Progressive Party, suggests, quote: "To stop the two-faced
00:12:39situation where European countries help Ukraine with one
00:12:42hand and pour money into the economy of aggressor
00:12:46countries with the other." This issue will not be solved by adopting one law
00:12:50and a complete ban. There must be a clear plan on how we will achieve
00:12:53this so that we can balance the political goal with
00:12:56economic consequences.
00:12:59Yes, this may have negative economic
00:13:02consequences, but in the short term. In the long
00:13:05term, I believe this will have positive economic
00:13:09consequences. Let's look at the statistics. Last
00:13:11year, in 2025, Latvia exported goods to Russia worth
00:13:15over 962 million euros. Almost half
00:13:18of this accounts for the already mentioned alcohol. This is data from the Central
00:13:22Statistical Bureau of Latvia. At the end of last year,
00:13:25Russia was in sixth place among Latvia's main export partners.
00:13:29Let's compare this with the figures before the war in 2021, when
00:13:33deliveries peaked. Latvia exported goods to Russia worth
00:13:361,197
00:13:38million euros, a total decrease of
00:13:4119-20%.
00:13:43In fact, the Latvian government says, today we are talking about transit
00:13:47exports, that is, deliveries to Russia of goods from other countries
00:13:50through Latvia. In imports, that is, deliveries from Russia to
00:13:54Latvia.
00:15:37ore, a mineral that Russia can use
00:15:41in the arms industry and, accordingly, in the war against
00:15:44Ukraine. The ban was included in the fourteenth package of anti-Russian
00:15:48sanctions, adopted by EU countries in the summer of 2024.
00:15:51Prior to this, investigative journalists found that in 2023,
00:15:55Estonia and Latvia accounted for almost 90%
00:15:58of the transit of manganese ore shipped to
00:16:01Russia. And since the beginning of the full-scale war, the volumes of these
00:16:03supplies have grown exponentially. Manganese
00:16:07ore is just one example, says Estonian economist Ron
00:16:10Luivitsuk. This year, investigators found that
00:16:14an Irish plant, partially owned by Russian
00:16:17billionaire Oleg Deripaska, is suspected of supplying
00:16:20alumina to Russian factories that produce weapons for
00:16:24the war in Ukraine. An Estonian company
00:16:27may be involved in ensuring the logistics of these
00:16:31supplies. Formally,
00:16:34it is not a sanctioned product. This
00:16:38alumina, no one prohibits
00:16:41businesses from conducting this, well,
00:16:44carrying out such transactions, because indeed, the ship does not
00:16:47enter Estonian ports, it goes
00:16:51from Ireland to Russia, aluminum
00:16:54is used, among other things, in
00:17:12Another proposal by Latvian politicians is to publish an official list
00:17:16of local companies that continue to conduct business with
00:17:20Russia and Belarus. Earlier, in the first years of the full-scale war,
00:17:23the Latvian Ministry of Economy published such lists,
00:17:26but then abandoned this practice, considering that the lists did not
00:17:30fully reflect
00:17:34business.
00:17:37needs
00:18:08some raw materials from Russia and does not want to highlight it, there are
00:18:11many legal ways to do this: introduce an intermediary
00:18:15who will appear in all lists, but
00:18:18this will not reflect the real picture, or some
00:18:21enterprise hypothetically declares a cargo to
00:18:24Kazakhstan at customs, so there is no connection with exports to Russia and corresponding
00:18:28lists, but no one knows if this cargo is unloaded in Pskov.
00:18:31I will add the results of a survey published in the autumn
00:18:35of last year by the Norstat agency.
00:18:38position of Latvian residents on trade with
00:18:41Russia and Belarus. 36%
00:18:44supported a complete ban on business with Eastern neighbors,
00:18:4746% opposed it.
00:19:38threat: there are criteria for launch,
00:19:41if they are violated, the launch will be canceled.
00:19:45Problems with hydrogen leakage occurred during the shuttle era,
00:19:48and we successfully resolved them. In the situation with Artemis and the SLS
00:19:52rocket, it's important to remember that this was actually the first time these
00:19:55systems interacted as a single
00:19:58whole.
00:20:44Russia and Iran. Do you think it's time to pass it and that the president
00:20:48may sign it soon?
00:20:52Absolutely, Putin is a bandit, what he has done to the Ukrainian people
00:20:56is disgusting, how many women, children, and grandmothers he has killed, and
00:20:59it is important for us to defend freedom, the people of Ukraine cannot but be
00:21:03admired. Last week I invited two Ukrainian
00:21:06commanders here to share with us developments in drone
00:21:10technology and combat. They truly cannot but be
00:21:13admired, but you know, if you support what Russia
00:21:17is doing, then you should be fought against.
00:22:20We live in dangerous times. We cannot, on the one hand, say, "Oh,
00:22:23Russia is a terrible place," and on the other hand, not hold it
00:22:27accountable. We are obliged to do this. And we need to do
00:22:30the same with communist China. We must stop buying anything
00:22:34from communist China. We are building up the military because we
00:22:38are concerned, but at the same time, we are not explaining to the American
00:22:41public that they should stop buying their goods. But
00:22:45the sanctions bill, in my opinion, is a step towards holding Putin
00:22:48accountable. I want Ukraine to win, and I want
00:22:52Russia to lose. Ukrainians are good, they are on the good
00:22:56side, and the government of Russia.
00:23:10It seems that the perception of the president, and indeed many
00:23:13in this building, of the value of Ukraine to the United States
00:23:17has changed.
00:24:20American resolve in terms of supporting Ukraine from
00:24:23the United States.
00:24:27Absolutely. I think Putin thought he could use Trump and
00:24:31the Europeans. And he did take advantage of the Europeans. But
00:24:34I think he underestimated Trump's commitment to freedom around the world.
00:24:38I think people were surprised by how President Trump is working to ensure
00:24:42Iran doesn't have nuclear weapons. I think they
00:24:45are surprised that he is trying to hold communist
00:24:48China accountable. I think they were surprised that he eliminated
00:24:52Maduro in Venezuela, so I think the world in general was
00:24:55surprised by how decisively Donald Trump champions
00:24:59freedom around the
00:25:00world.
00:25:03Do you think he, Putin, still believes he can outlast
00:25:06the United States and its allies, or can
00:25:09Congress prove him wrong? You said that we need to
00:25:13act quickly and pass this bill? I think
00:25:16many believe that they can survive and outlast, because...
00:25:50drones last week hosted Ukrainians.
00:25:54RFE/RL was the first to report that the US and Ukraine have already
00:25:57signed a preliminary agreement, but the main deal still needs to be
00:26:01signed. What, in your opinion, is the importance of Ukraine's contribution to the field
00:26:04of drones for
00:26:05the US?
00:26:15I think partly it's because Ukrainians are very creative in what
00:26:18they do, and they manage to create more and more sophisticated
00:26:22drone technologies, but perhaps even more impressive
00:26:26is the quality of their operators, the fact that they, with a very small group
00:26:29of people, destroy Russian troops. I spoke with one
00:26:33Ukrainian commander who, with 2,000 men, destroyed
00:26:37Russian equipment worth over 15 billion
00:26:40dollars. I spoke with another, who commands a very
00:26:44small part of the Ukrainian military budget, but who has destroyed
00:26:47about 30% of the Russian army, because they
00:26:51figured out how to do this very skillfully with autonomous
00:26:54weapons, excellent training, in essence,
00:26:57constant feedback, when those who use the technology
00:27:01constantly communicate with...
00:27:32that Ukraine would survive at all, let alone carry this
00:27:36war into Russia and against the Russian people, that is,
00:27:39for quite a long time, Russians had practically no
00:27:42inconveniences due to the war, now there are costs for the
00:27:46Russian economy and for Russians, and this happened
00:27:49because of what Ukrainians were able to achieve. The difference is
00:27:53that Ukrainians are not just killing Russians, they are destroying
00:27:56the Russian army, while Russia is trying to stop
00:27:59them by killing Ukrainian civilians.
00:28:05In this regard, Ukrainians are also concerned that Patriot production
00:28:08has been delayed. The President has made it clear that he is ready to provide Ukraine
00:28:11with a license, but then we heard mixed signals.
00:28:15Do you have any other information? When I
00:28:18talk to the White House, I hear that they are absolutely committed to Ukraine,
00:28:22so I am absolutely sure that they will provide Ukraine with the weapons
00:28:25it needs, when it needs
00:28:28them. You spoke about several countries, Iran, you
00:28:32spoke about North Korea, Russia, China, do
00:28:35you see any connection between
00:28:37them?
00:28:39Absolutely, there is definitely cooperation between them, they
00:28:43hate our way of life, they hate capitalism, they
00:28:46hate Judeo-Christian values, they want to
00:28:49destroy us, they want to control the world, they will
00:28:53act together to achieve this, they have already acted
00:28:57together to achieve this, we must understand that there is
00:29:00a significant threat to our freedom.
00:29:33I think that the Ukrainians, by their actions, have shown that corrupt dictatorships
00:29:37fail, and freedom wins. My last
00:29:41question on this: if you had a chance to send a message to Putin,
00:29:44what would it be
00:29:46today?
00:29:51I would tell Putin: you are a bandit, and you should
00:29:54go to hell for all the death and destruction you have
00:29:58caused to the Ukrainian people, and I will do everything in my power
00:30:01to...
00:30:27talked about unique places
00:30:29and unique people, but that was before.
00:30:34Since February 2022, everything changed due to
00:30:38the war. We are showing a new
00:30:42history of Ukraine, about
00:30:44an incredible spirit of resilience, about struggle, despite
00:30:48everything.
00:30:53Watch the joint project of Radio Svoboda and Current Time TV channel,
00:30:57what is actually happening in...