In this wide-ranging talk, moderator Chris Kilford will be joined by Evija Djatkovica from the Latvian Institute of International Affairs. Evija is a well-known and regarded expert on issues in the Baltic, and surrounding countries, and she will be joining in from Latvia. During the talk, Chris and Evija will discuss:

– The crisis in Belarus stemming from the August 2020 elections and Latvia’s “idealistic engagement with Europe’s “last dictatorship””.

– the July 2021 Belarus-EU migrant crisis and Latvia’s response.

– Canada’s military deployment to Latvia where Canada is in charge of the forward Enhanced Forward Presence Battle Group Latvia composed of some 550 Canadian troops and others from nine other NATO member countries.

– Perspectives on Ukraine as they impact Latvian and Baltic security going forward.

And much more! Plus, there will be ample time for an audience Q & A.

Our speaker…

Evija Djatkovica is a researcher and project manager at the Latvian Institute of International Affairs. Evija holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and a master’s degree in Diplomacy from the University of Latvia. Evija’s professional experience is related to international relations and policy analysis. Evija has worked for the Slovak Embassy in Riga and the consulting company “Civitta Latvija” as well as for the OSCE Election Assessment Mission. Her academic interests focus on the analysis of Russia in terms of regional security from the perspective of both – soft power and hard power.