The President of Latvia: It is time to take action in tackling hybrid threats

“In spite of various attempts to divide us, we must stay united. Therefore, the more we prepare today the greater the costs to hostile actors, with less likelihood of their success to influence the public. Deterrence against hybrid threats is an area where opportunities should be sought. Too long, we have been reactive. Now is the time to take action,” emphasised President of Latvia.

On 15 June 2018, the President of Latvia Raimonds Vējonis opened the conference “NATO in 2018: Limits and Opportunities in Responding to Existing and Emerging Challenges” organised by the Latvian Institute of International Affairs. In his speech, the President of Latvia noted that when belief and trust in the values which have guided us since the Enlightenment, were under threat, new solutions to the challenges should be sought in the domain of soft security by developing countermeasures against fake news and hybrid threats.

The President of Latvia described NATO as the most successful alliance in the history of hard security and acknowledged that there was increasing awareness in the European Union of the need for action to strengthen our own security, both at national and EU level.

Keynote address by the President of Latvia Raimonds Vējonis