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.

Every European election these days starts with the same two questions. The first is obvious: who is going to win and form the government? And will Russia interfere as it did in the US presidential election?

While the Washington-based think tank Atlantic Council fights against Russian propaganda, some of its experts lobby the interests of the Latvian banks accused of money laundering and help soften the image of the Russia-friendly political party before upcoming parliamentary elections in an EU nation on the Russian doorstep. 

Sixteen political parties and party alliances have been registered with Latvia’s Central Election Commission for upcoming elections to the four-year term of the 100-member Latvian parliament or Saeima which will take place on October 6, 2018. This is the largest number of lists since 2006, when 19 were filed.  From 2010 to 2014 (there was an extraordinary election in 2011 after the Saeima was dismissed by then President Valdis Zatlers) the number of lists was steady at 13.

Nearly half of Latvian residents login to Facebook daily. Just as many watch YouTube videos. Every fifth uses Instagram and about 60,000 people regularly post on Twitter, according to the audience research by Kantar TNS. Political parties are no exception and are actively promoting themselves before upcoming Latvian parliamentary elections in October, 2018. Country’s anti-corruption bureau (KNAB) is tasked with monitoring the political spending on social networks.

The new data leak from tax haven Panama  for the first time reveals approximate value of  assets owned by Liga Lemberga, the daughter of a Latvian oligarch Aivars Lembergs.

A second leak of internal documents reveals panic, chaos that marked the beginning of the end of the “Panama Papers” firm.

How athletes from a Riga suburb have developed political muscle, which helps their NGOs get money from the municipality they represent as deputies.

Since the Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the increased NATO military presence in the Baltic states, 20 of Baltic residents have been detained under suspicions of spying, mainly for Russia. For Latvia, the two are the first cases of espionage since the restoration of independence from the Soviet Union. Who are they and why so few?