It was supposed to be just another winter hunt for Sergejus Pusinas (35), a captain in the Lithuanian Air Force. Then a red light flashing in a fellow hunter’s pocket caught his eye. It triggered a series of events that finally led him to the point of no return.
People who regularly cross the Russian border are more vulnerable to the risk of recruitment. As opposed to officials who work with state secrets and have been warned about the methods of foreign intelligence services, the average person is less informed. A friendly question by Russian border guards, such as whether a bribe should be given to anyone on the Latvian side and to whom, may seem innocent but allows the other side to mark potential recruits.
After a few relatively stable years, the media market in the Baltics seems to be headed for interesting times. The latest Baltic Media Health Check report shows that more than half of the most popular media saw their audiences shrink in 2017. It is becoming harder for media owners to grow sales, and the size of the Baltic advertising market is still below its 2008 level.
The Hungarian government has developed close ties with Vladimir Putin’s Russia in recent years, hence Budapest’s response to the “Skripal case” may have seemed surprisingly tough. In spring of 2018, Viktor Orbán’s government decided to expel a Russian diplomat in a show of solidarity with the United Kingdom after the poisoning of Sergei Skripal, a former Russian spy now living in the UK.
2018 Greste Baltic Freedom of Speech Award has been granted to us - the Baltic Center For Investigative Journalism Re:Baltica.
Investigation shows the attack on Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs was larger and lasted longer than previously reported, but it is still enveloped in extreme secrecy.