As of this year, 17 March is an official day of remembrance – the Day of Remembrance of the National Resistance Movement. To mark this day, the President of Latvia is hosting an international conference “Protecting the State. Then and Now: National Resistance Experience in the Baltic States and Ukraine” with the aim to discuss the experience of the resistance in the Baltic States following World War II and its international significance, viewing this experience in light of Putin’s war in Ukraine.
The conference will be live streamed on 17 March at 15:00 on portal LSM.lv, the website of the President of Latvia www.president.lv and social media accounts.
In the first session of the conference, introductory remarks about the Baltic national resistance movements will be given by President of Latvia Egils Levits, professor Lauri Mälksoo from the University of Tartu and professor Dainius Žalimas from Vytatutas Magnus University.
The second session of the conference will be a panel discussion titled “Protecting a Rules-Based International Order”, which will be opened by Speaker of the Saeima Ināra Mūrniece and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to Latvia Olexandr Mischenko.
The panellists will discuss the history of Latvia’s national resistance, as well as current geopolitical challenges and steps to be taken to strengthen European and global security. What is threatened by Russia’s aggression? How can the aggressor be contained? How to prevent the “normalisation” of the events in Ukraine? What can be learned from the resistance experience of the occupied Baltic States during the Cold War? Can current events be considered as the beginning of a new international order?
The participants of the discussion will be Deputy Speaker of the Saeima Inese Lībiņa-Egnere, former Commander of the National Armed Forces, Lieutenant General (retired), Military Advisor to the Minister of Defence Raimonds Graube, Senior Researcher at the Centre for Security and Strategic Studies of the National Academy of Defence Latvia Ieva Bērziņa and Riga Stradiņš University professor, Director of the Latvian Institute of International Affairs Andris Sprūds. The discussion will be moderated by Foreign Affairs Adviser to the President of Latvia Solveiga Silkalna.