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.
00:00:34This is a typical Lithuanian village, which is literally 10 km from the
00:00:38Belarusian border. The peculiarity of this settlement is that by
00:00:42twenty-seventh year, one of the largest military training grounds in the country will appear next to it. It is here,
00:00:46as military experts say, that the most vulnerable place of NATO is located - the Suwalki
00:00:49corridor. The Suwalki corridor is a
00:00:53territory between Lithuania and Poland less than 100 km wide. It
00:00:57connects the Baltic states with other NATO states. At the same time,
00:01:01this is a territory separating Belarus and the Kaliningrad region of Russia, which
00:01:04in the event of a military conflict, Moscow and Minsk can seize and
00:01:08thereby connect the two countries, and thereby cut off Lithuania, Latvia, and
00:01:12Estonia from other partners in the North Atlantic Alliance.
00:01:15Already this autumn, as the Wall Street Journal writes, the Kremlin may decide on
00:01:18military aggression against the Baltic States and Poland in order to test
00:01:22NATO unity, and Lithuanian authorities speak of a potential
00:01:26threat from Russia. Since the war in Ukraine is not going
00:01:29as Russia planned, they cannot win, to
00:01:33this day, explosions are thundering in Russia itself, there is a shortage of fuel,
00:01:37Russian society is already asking questions to the Kremlin regime,
00:01:40why this is happening and where the promised victory is, the Kremlin,
00:01:44Putin needs a new escalation, some new
00:01:48victory, and the Baltic region, Poland - this
00:01:51is the closest target in this
00:01:52case.
00:01:58In the border region, where the Kapčiamiestis training ground appeared, preparatory
00:02:02work has already begun, roads are being built, infrastructure is being prepared,
00:02:06disputes with local residents are being resolved over real estate that will be seized
00:02:10for public needs. It is planned that the facility will occupy more than
00:02:1314,000 hectares, where up to
00:02:164,000 Lithuanian military personnel and NATO allies will be able to be accommodated. Large-scale
00:02:20exercises will be held five times a year for 10 days. The Ministry of
00:02:24National Defense of Lithuania has commented on the creation of the training ground as
00:02:27follows: The Kapčiamiestis
00:02:30training ground was established in April 2026. It
00:02:33is necessary to increase the combat readiness of the Lithuanian
00:02:37armed forces and the formation of a national division by
00:02:392030. At the training ground, exercises can be conducted simultaneously
00:02:43with forces ranging from
00:02:463,500 to 400 military personnel at
00:02:49the brigade level. This facility is important for the
00:02:53defense of the southern part of Lithuania and the Suwalki
00:02:55corridor. The agency also added that hostile
00:02:59rhetoric and actions by Russia against the region are not a
00:03:02new phenomenon. Lithuania responds to this with comprehensive measures,
00:03:06including an increase in the defense budget, which contributes to
00:03:09the continuous buildup of the combat capabilities of the country's
00:03:13armed forces. Among the measures to strengthen Lithuania's security are
00:03:16strengthening the protection of critical infrastructure facilities,
00:03:19and monitoring the security situation in close
00:03:22cooperation with allies. Regarding a possible
00:03:26attack by Russia, what do they think about the construction of the training ground at the present time? tell us.
00:03:32Well, it will be what
00:03:33it will be,
00:03:37but we are not afraid yet, for now it's quiet,
00:03:40everything is fine, no anxiety here,
00:03:43no, everything is normal, I don't
00:03:47deal with politics, I think it's good that
00:03:50it needs to
00:03:52be built,
00:03:55there is an opinion here that the Suwalki corridor is the most dangerous
00:03:58place, what do you think, is there any anxiety, fear in
00:04:02you? Yes, what will your actions be in case of
00:04:05an attack, I will defend myself, it
00:04:09seems to me that he will not come here, he already
00:04:12has enough, if he had known that he would not
00:04:16win Ukraine, then he would not have gone
00:04:19to Ukraine, he thought in 3 days, but
00:04:23this is another one,
00:04:26one, one he doesn't need, why does he...
00:04:31So many of these training grounds we have, empty
00:04:35stands, training grounds, well, they say that American intelligence
00:04:39writes that Putin may attack the Baltics
00:04:43already in autumn, what
00:04:44do you think,
00:04:48let him, I'm not afraid of anything, nothing
00:04:50threatens me. Former commander of the Lithuanian armed forces
00:04:54Valdas Tutkus believes that the Kremlin will not start a conflict with NATO
00:04:58and open an additional front, as the war in Ukraine is costly for Russia,
00:05:02losses at the front, fuel crisis due to attacks by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In addition, the alliance's fifth
00:05:05article, according to which an attack on one of the NATO
00:05:09countries is equivalent to an attack on the entire organization, has also not
00:05:13been canceled. I have always set the task for our armed
00:05:16forces to be ready to repel, but we must not
00:05:19forget that we are NATO members, this is the most
00:05:23important question that causes a lot of discussions, I
00:05:27apologize, I consider them empty discussions, will the fifth
00:05:30article work or not, this is fortune-telling on coffee
00:05:33grounds, the meaning of the alliance is that this article
00:05:36exists, the Suwalki corridor considers the ex-commander a really
00:05:40narrow territory, but not the most convenient for...
00:05:42attack, unlike the transit section to Kaliningrad, where there is a railway
00:05:46and other infrastructure. Separate actions of the Ministry of Defense of Valdas
00:05:50Tutkus raise questions, we buy a thousand
00:05:53trucks, we build a defensive line, although
00:05:57we understand perfectly well that modern warfare will not
00:06:00go, as I once said, that Guderian has long been dead, that
00:06:04is, tank wedges are probably not to be expected, however,
00:06:08large sums of money are spent,
00:06:12well, on...
00:07:12Everyone should know, it has been said many times, everyone should
00:07:16know that it will be suicide for those who
00:07:19instigate such provocations. In addition to controlling the
00:07:23border with the Kaliningrad region of Russia and the Suwalki corridor, other checkpoints
00:07:27on the border with Belarus also remain under special attention. Of the
00:07:30six checkpoints that previously operated, only two are currently
00:07:33active. This is how one of the closed checkpoints
00:07:37on the Lithuanian-Belarusian border looks now. Behind me
00:07:40are special structures, better known as dragon's teeth, whose purpose
00:07:43is to impede any movement of military equipment. In addition to
00:07:47preparing for full-scale war, Lithuania has already repeatedly faced
00:07:51provocations from Minsk. The organization of illegal immigration and
00:07:54cigarette smuggling from Belarus to the EU is called elements of hybrid war in
00:07:58Vilnius.
00:08:01This tool is used by the Lukashenko regime to
00:08:04destabilize the situation in Lithuania. Now on the border with
00:08:07Belarus in this particular area there is a rather dynamic
00:08:11situation. And I must say that this causes a lot of
00:08:14concerns, concerns in Lithuania, in the European
00:08:17Union, we really need to be especially
00:08:20vigilant in terms of preparing for various types of hybrid actions right
00:08:24now on the border with Belarus. Lithuanian
00:08:27border guards are preparing for a potential invasion from Belarus and
00:08:30Russia, along with the military. Rustam Lyubaev says the
00:08:33Suwalki corridor is vulnerable:
00:08:35так:
00:08:39From the point of view of border control, border
00:08:43protection is also a very difficult section, especially when it comes to
00:08:47the border with Belarus. You probably know that this section of
00:08:50the border was used for a hybrid attack in
00:08:532021, when Lukashenko began to use
00:08:56migration for his own purposes. First to Lithuania, then to
00:09:00Poland, and then to Latvia. In this area, in the so-called
00:09:03Suwalki corridor, there is also a lot of
00:09:06crime. Perhaps this is not directly related to
00:09:09national security prospects. I mean,
00:09:12it is not directly related to military aggression,
00:09:16possible military aggression, however, this
00:09:18region is very sensitive from the point of view of border
00:09:21management. The office of the President of Lithuania urges members of
00:09:25the Seimas to approve defense funding after 2030
00:09:29at a level of more than 5-6% of GDP. This
00:09:31year, official Vilnius plans to allocate about
00:09:344.8 billion euros for defense, which is about
00:09:385.4%. In addition, on August
00:09:4212, the country's authorities supported the proposal of
00:09:45the Ministry of National Defense to strengthen defense on the borders with
00:09:48Belarus and Russia. Ditches tens of meters wide and additional
00:09:51engineering structures will appear at border crossings to impede the movement of military equipment. Also, from
00:09:552030, the country's authorities plan to restore swamps along
00:09:59the borders to stop a potential
00:10:01offensive.
00:10:07These fortresses on the border of Russia and Estonia were a
00:10:11symbol of confrontation.
00:10:55expect that we can protect the country's population using only what
00:10:59is at the disposal of the state. We say this:
00:11:02every bush shoots, every thorn matters. This
00:11:05is the approach we see in cooperation with the defense industry, especially
00:11:09after the start of Russia's full-scale aggression against Ukraine in
00:11:132022, our defense industry has grown significantly.
00:11:16We see that entrepreneurs are also actively involved
00:11:19in this process and think about it with
00:11:21us.
00:11:29Mobile autonomous surveillance platforms are a product of an Estonian company
00:11:33that has been operating in the market for the last 9 years. They are powered by solar
00:11:36energy and use software with artificial intelligence
00:11:40that analyzes the received images and displays all information on one
00:11:43screen. As sad as it is, of course
00:11:46a great influence
00:11:49was the beginning of the war, because
00:11:52as I told you already, that we... decided
00:11:55to be next to our Ukrainian
00:11:59colleagues from the very beginning almost, because we have been on
00:12:02the front lines with them since autumn 2022
00:12:05and our technologies are used there,
00:12:08and therefore, how to say, it
00:12:11certainly gave a big boost. The company with a staff of one
00:12:14hundred and fifty people and an annual turnover
00:12:18of almost 250 million euros, supplies its product for border protection in
00:12:22Estonia and a couple of dozen other countries. You did not want to
00:12:25buy,
00:12:28let's say, our
00:12:30relationship,
00:12:33such that we do not
00:12:35consider the current situation, the possibility of
00:12:39selling such technology in Russia, well, did
00:12:42Russia ask or not, of course, there was
00:12:45interest, there was, yes, let's say,
00:12:49before the war.
00:12:52войны.
00:12:55Since 2022, the number of companies engaged in defense
00:12:59technologies has increased tenfold in Estonia. An association of such
00:13:02IT businesses has been created here. This confirms the country's reputation for
00:13:06advanced digital technologies, which were purely
00:13:09peaceful at the beginning of the century, but have now moved into the defense
00:13:12industry.
00:13:19These exercises use the technologies of a very young startup, which employs
00:13:22only 15 people. The software
00:13:26they developed is installed on smartphones, tablets, and other devices on the battlefield,
00:13:30to protect data exchange from outside interference, all
00:13:33channels are used, radio communications, satellite, or mobile
00:13:36networks.
00:13:41Estonia is, in some sense, unique. Being a small country, with a relatively
00:13:44small industry, we specialize in very advanced
00:13:48technologies, not so much in large platforms, like tanks or
00:13:51ships, as large countries do, but rather in smart and innovative solutions. technologies
00:15:10for the underwater environment and there are many others, but I don't want to disclose all
00:15:14the details about them, because they themselves should one day present
00:15:17their developments to the world, like many other Estonian
00:15:21technologies, these are also used by warring Ukraine.
00:15:37is Ukraine. We have established very good cooperation not
00:15:41only at the state level with the ministry, but also between companies,
00:15:44as well as between business and government agencies. And, of course,
00:15:48it is not only about testing, first of all, it is support, assistance to the armed
00:15:51forces of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people, so that they can defend their country,
00:15:55their people and the freedom of
00:15:57Ukraine.
00:15:59As part of state support for private companies, Estonia created
00:16:03a special fund called SmartCap at the beginning of
00:16:062025, but its experience, unlike energetic
00:16:09private companies, turned out to be not the best
00:16:12example.
00:16:15The Estonian government created this defense fund and allocated 100
00:16:19million euros to it. But at the moment, most of this money
00:16:22is simply lying in the fund's accounts. They have not yet actually reached
00:16:26real companies or other funds, they are not yet working, not
00:16:30creating any results. The reason is that the fund takes too
00:16:33long to make investment decisions. We had problems
00:16:36with this. There were other mistakes, I think if you look
00:16:40at any country, mistakes are inevitable, this is normal and
00:16:43is a natural part of the process, but it is very important
00:16:47to correct such mistakes as soon
00:16:49as possible.
00:16:55At the local level, Estonian business helps the Defense League,
00:16:59a voluntary paramilitary organization, by sponsoring local exercises, for example,
00:17:02like these, where they practice mass evacuation and drone
00:17:06control training.
00:17:10we cooperate with private business, including in the training of
00:17:14drone operators, the Estonian Defense League has its own
00:17:17drone unit where we train operators,
00:17:20especially I would say young people, people in
00:17:23their twenties, thirties, maybe forties, because
00:17:26it's much easier for young people to handle all this, including piloting
00:17:30drones, the current young generation is essentially born with
00:17:34a phone in their hand. Estonian military training. Friday
00:18:19evening, Evita is preparing to participate in the competitive military
00:18:23exercise Zemessardze patrol, packs her backpack, checks her
00:18:26equipment, applies camouflage makeup, ahead
00:18:29are dozens of kilometers on foot, tactical tasks - minimum
00:18:33sleep. Evita is participating in the patrol
00:18:35for the first time. can be translated into Russian as land
00:18:49defense or territorial defense, it is part of the Latvian
00:18:52army, a formation that one can join voluntarily and
00:18:56serve in their free time on weekends. Evita joined
00:19:00Zemessardze after her husband. The events of 2022, the
00:19:03full-scale Russian invasion, played a significant role in this decision.
00:20:15I know that it will all end after 21
00:20:18hours, so you just have to endure 21 hours.
00:20:34in our country in the 90s.
00:20:37"People went to training, well , what kind of uniforms
00:20:40,
00:20:45no tactical vests, they bought their own
00:20:48weapons privately.
00:21:06after the actual restoration of Latvia's independence in 1991,
00:21:09says Raimonds
00:21:11Graube, today a general and former commander of the Latvian
00:21:14army, back in 1991, a participant in
00:21:18the barricade confrontation.
00:21:32a decision was made that this building would be transferred to
00:21:34its disposal, and fate decreed that I was one
00:21:38of the six people who first entered this building, we hadn't even been issued
00:21:41uniforms yet, so we were taking it over, there was
00:21:44emptiness, old documents lay on the floor,
00:21:47subsequently Raimonds Graube became commander.
00:21:57the general recalls, there was a security vacuum in the country. The
00:21:59Soviet army finally left Latvia only in
00:22:03ninety-four, throughout the entire modern history, the Latvian
00:22:07army was multinational, says
00:22:09Graube.
00:22:12As an example, I will say that we have six fallen soldiers in international
00:22:16military operations, two of whom are Latvian citizens of Russian
00:23:20origin. I hadn't thought about Zemessardze and didn't know what it was about, except what I saw in movies,
00:23:23but when the invasion began, I realized
00:23:27that if it spread to Europe, then I needed to
00:23:30acquire some skills to be able to protect both
00:23:33the state and my family. Nikita says that over the years, some
00:23:37people lose motivation, get tired of serving on weekends, or are
00:23:40unable to combine it with their main job, yet the number of
00:23:43Zemessargs in Latvia continues to grow, today it is about
00:23:4710 thousand people, Nikita's native language.
00:24:20We all speak Latvian there, even if I understand that for a person
00:24:23Russian may be their native language, we still speak
00:24:26Latvian. The motivation of Latvian residents to defend the country in case
00:24:30of an external invasion threat is not in doubt, says Member of
00:24:34Parliament, former commander of the Latvian
00:24:37Ground Forces, Igor Raev. However, in his opinion, the defense
00:24:41system as such in Latvia still does not quite
00:24:44correspond to the rapidly changing
00:24:46world.
00:26:58ultimately 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
00:27:01energy left, the Zemessargs went home,
00:27:05to their families,
00:27:06or to turn the country into
00:27:11a military camp? I think he will simply be doomed to follow
00:27:15the second path, to turn it into a military camp, that means
00:27:18conducting pseudo-mobilization, naturally this word will not
00:27:22be uttered, because they were badly
00:27:24burned by it in 2022, but de facto it
00:27:28will be carried out, people with...
00:28:02elections the picture will become even clearer
00:28:06and most importantly, it is predictable, everyone understands
00:28:09what we are talking about now, after the elections
00:28:13they will start tightening the screws, in terms of money and
00:28:17mobilization measures and restriction of human
00:28:20rights, including the right to vote, well, all this will happen in
00:28:24October, will unfold in November, from December
00:28:28a window of opportunity will open, about which
00:29:07raids, cops will twist people, pressure them, force
00:29:10them to sign contracts, you come with grandma, no, please, don't come anywhere
00:29:14with grandma, let grandma go alone herself, this is because people are simply not
00:29:17informed, they tell you, do you want to die in prison or in war, Prigozhin,
00:29:21by the way, was more effective than the opposite, it was just some kind of
00:29:24media.
00:29:35reporter.
00:29:39The AI industry is rapidly developing, giant data centers are appearing
00:29:42in the US, but concerns are growing.
00:29:46Power plants emit a lot of pollutants.
00:29:48Across the country, families are debating what
00:29:52this means in practice when huge data centers appear
00:29:56near them. Many are losing what is
00:29:59dear to them. We were offered.
00:30:45We love this place for the land, for the countryside where our
00:30:49girls grow up, they love to play in the forest, they spend all their
00:30:52time
00:30:53outdoors,