Future of European Security and Russia-Ukraine Peace Efforts: Latvia Foreign Minister Baiba Braze
American Thought Leaders
The Epoch Times
4.9 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 12 December 2025
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Amidst ongoing U.S. efforts to mediate a Russia–Ukraine peace and the release of a new U.S. national security strategy that has sent shockwaves through Europe, I’m sitting down with the foreign minister of Latvia, Baiba Braze, to get her unique perspective.
Latvia is a small Baltic country bordering Estonia, Lithuania, Belarus, and Russia. In the 1940s, the Soviets occupied Latvia and its neighboring countries—a reality that has made Latvia hyper-vigilant against potential Russian expansionism.
Latvia joined both the EU and NATO in 2004, alongside Lithuania and Estonia.
Latvia is one of the few NATO countries that spends considerably more than 2 percent of its GDP per year on its military.
“We keep reminding [other NATO countries] that it’s possible to do that, and we are showing you as our example. In our case, it’s 5 percent hard defense capabilities,” Braze said.
Latvia is working to reallocate state funding to hit a target of 4.91 percent of GDP in defense spending by 2026 and 5 percent in subsequent years.
In our wide-ranging interview, Braze discusses the Ukraine war, how she sees a potential peace agreement taking shape, and how pressure can be mounted on Russia. She’s traveled four times to Ukraine in the 18 months since her appointment as Latvia’s minister of foreign affairs.
Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Amidst ongoing U.S. efforts to mediate a Russia-Ukraine peace and a new national security strategy that has sent shockwaves through Europe, |
| 0:08.0 | I'm sitting down with the Foreign Minister of Latvia, Baibabraja, to get her unique perspective. |
| 0:14.0 | We fully support the U.S. efforts to achieve the peace, but in our calculation it's the pressure on Russia that needs to be increased for |
| 0:22.1 | them to feel more pain to actually come to the table seriously. |
| 0:26.3 | Latvia is a small Baltic nation bordering Russia, a reality that has made the country |
| 0:31.7 | hyper-vigilant about Russian expansionism. |
| 0:34.9 | The U.S. was the land of the free, the big shining light that was not recognizing the occupation |
| 0:43.9 | of the Baltic states, not recognizing the USSR's illegitimate claim for any country in the |
| 0:50.5 | world. |
| 0:52.5 | And that kept us going. This is American Thought Leaders, and I'm |
| 0:57.2 | Janja Kellick. |
| 1:02.0 | Minister Baiba Braja, such a pleasure to have you on American Thought Leaders. |
| 1:08.0 | Thank you so much for having me. Let's talk about NATO and let's talk about |
| 1:13.4 | the new U.S. national security strategy. I'm going to read something that the Deputy Secretary of State |
| 1:20.2 | Landau wrote recently and he said, the U.S. has long failed to address the glaring inconsistency between its relations with NATO and the EU. |
| 1:30.9 | He's talking now about his NATO ministerial meeting that he was at. |
| 1:35.9 | And he says, when these countries wear their NATO hats, they insist that transatlantic cooperation is the cornerstone of our mutual security. |
| 1:42.7 | But when these countries wear their EU hats, |
| 1:45.0 | they pursue all sorts of agendas that are utterly adverse to US interests and security. |
| 1:49.0 | What's your reaction? |
| 1:51.0 | Well, on the national security strategy, I think one needs to look at it as a whole, |
| 1:57.0 | because of course, as always on social media commentary, |
... |
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