{"id":577875,"date":"2026-09-17T17:59:44","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T14:59:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reform.news\/?p=577875"},"modified":"2026-09-17T18:07:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T15:07:08","slug":"latvian-prime-minister-tells-coale-sanctions-against-belarus-need-to-be-strengthened","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/latvian-prime-minister-tells-coale-sanctions-against-belarus-need-to-be-strengthened","title":{"rendered":"Latvian Prime Minister Tells Coale Sanctions Against Belarus Need To Be Strengthened"},"content":{"rendered":"
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US presidential envoy John Coale<\/strong> has traveled to Latvia. The Latvian prime minister said at a meeting that Riga supports strengthening sanctions against the regime of Aliaksandr Lukashenka<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

On September 17, Coale met in Riga with Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs<\/strong>, Foreign Minister Baiba Bra\u017ee<\/strong>, and State Border Guard Chief Guntis Puj\u0101ts<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cto learn more about the security challenges facing Latvia\u2019s eastern border and discuss opportunities for U.S-Latvia cooperation,\u201d<\/em> the US Embassy in Latvia reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

According<\/a> to the Latvian prime minister’s office, the meeting focused in particular on combating illegal migration organized by the Lukashenka regime, Latvia’s \u201cVilkatis\u201d operation on the Belarusian border, and US efforts to secure the release of political prisoners in Belarus.<\/p>\n

Kulbergs welcomed the release of 25 Belarusian political prisoners but stressed that Latvia supports strengthening sanctions because there have been no significant improvements in the actions of the Belarusian regime.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe regime continues its repression of society, supports Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and uses migration as a tool of hybrid attack. Therefore, Latvia considers it necessary to maintain political and sanctions pressure and supports expanding and strengthening EU sanctions,\u201d<\/em> the Lithuanian prime minister’s office reported.<\/p>\n

Kulbergs also confirmed Latvia’s interest in deepening economic cooperation with the United States and attracting new US investment.<\/p>\n

Latvian Foreign Minister Bra\u017ee said that the sides had agreed on steps to strengthen NATO’s eastern border.<\/p>\n

\u201cLatvia and the United States understand the challenges of border security and countering illegal migration. We agreed on practical steps to reinforce NATO\u2019s eastern border,\u201d<\/em> Bra\u017ee said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Coale held meetings with the president and prime minister of Lithuania.<\/p>\n

Following Coale’s talks with Lukashenka, 25 political prisoners were released and taken to Lithuania<\/a>. In return, the United States will lift sanctions on Bellesbumprom and Lakokraska. Coale also announced further releases and additional sanctions relief.<\/p>\n

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US presidential envoy John Coale and Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs. Photo: Valsts kanceleja \/ Edijs P\u0101lens<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Photo: Valsts kanceleja \/ Edijs P\u0101lens<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Photo: Valsts kanceleja \/ Edijs P\u0101lens<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

US presidential envoy John Coale has traveled to Latvia. The Latvian prime minister said at a meeting that Riga supports strengthening sanctions against the regime of Aliaksandr Lukashenka. On September 17, Coale met in Riga with Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs, Foreign Minister Baiba Bra\u017ee, and State Border Guard Chief Guntis Puj\u0101ts\u00a0\u201cto learn more about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":577874,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sharing_image":{"poster":"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/6aac02216307d.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"template":"691142dd","mode":"auto"},"_sharing_image_fieldset":{"dTVKfmI95PYT":"Latvian Prime Minister Tells Coale Sanctions Against Belarus Need To Be Strengthened"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[142339,142338,143284,143090],"tags":[143118,143171],"class_list":["post-577875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-main","category-news","category-world","category-politics","tag-belarus","tag-latvija"],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=577875"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577875\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":577878,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577875\/revisions\/577878"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/577874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=577875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=577875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=577875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}