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Latvia’s new foreign minister visits Ukraine, meets FM Kuleba

by Dinara Khalilova and The Kyiv Independent news desk April 26, 2024 12:51 PM 2 min read
Baiba Braze, former NATO Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy and current foreign minister of Latvia, looks on during the NATO Resilience Symposium 2023, on April 26, 2023. (Gints Ivuskans/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
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The newly appointed Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braze arrived in Kyiv on the morning of April 26 and met with her Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba, the ministry reported.

This is Braze’s first bilateral visit abroad, "signifying that support for Ukraine is a high priority in Latvia's foreign policy," according to the ministry.

The Latvian Foreign Ministry published on X photos showing Braze and Kuleba honoring those fallen in Russia's war against Ukraine at the Wall of Remembrance in Kyiv.

The ministry didn’t provide more details on the visit. Kuleba has not yet reported on the meeting.

Braze was appointed as Latvia’s new foreign minister on April 19.

Latvia has been one of Ukraine's staunchest supporters since the outbreak of the full-scale war. The country's prime minister, Evika Silina, recently said that Riga's military aid for Kyiv amounted to 392 million euros (around $425 million), including an upcoming defense aid package in April.

Latvian Defense Minister Andris Spruds said on April 24 that a drone coalition co-led by the U.K. and Latvia has collected over 500 million euros ($535 million) to purchase drones for Ukraine.

President Volodymyr Zelensky and his Latvian counterpart, Edgars Rinkevics, have also recently signed a 10-year bilateral security agreement.

Latvian schools to stop teaching Russian as foreign language
Children in Latvia will no longer learn Russian as a foreign language in schools from 2026, but instead will be required to learn a language of the European Union or the European Economic Area, Latvia’s Education Ministry announced on April 23.

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