Rihards Kols, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Saeima, addressing the United States (US) Commission on Security and Co-operation in Europe (US Helsinki Commission) at a special hearing, urged the Western countries to be aware of the hybrid threats posed by Russia. During the joint visit of the Chairs of the Foreign Affairs Committees of the Baltic Parliaments, the Baltic MPs informed the US Helsinki Commission about the current security challenges in the Baltics.
Hybrid threats are often aimed at countries’ weakest points in politics or in society, said Kols, pointing out the broad spectrum of hybrid threats — disinformation activities, cyber-attacks, historical revisionism, corruption, and energy blackmail. Therefore, both NATO and the European Union must be aware that the response steps must be strategic, organised, purposeful and thought-out, which will take time.
Kols stressed the need to pay attention to critical infrastructure — electricity supply and IT systems — as well as energy security. “We need to be able to ensure the continuity and resilience of infrastructure against attempts by external aggressors, which can take the form of manipulation of supplies and prices, cyber-attacks and physical attacks,” said the Chair of the Committee.
“One of the ways to resist aggression and strengthen our resilience is the Three Seas Initiative, which can be considered a forge of renewed unity between the Adriatic, Baltic and Black Sea regions,” said Kols. The initiative aims to promote large-scale investments in infrastructure, digital and energy-related areas thus fostering the development of infrastructure and interconnectivity.
Kols emphasised the region of the Baltic States and the Three Seas Initiative countries as a critical border point, where geopolitical ambitions and priorities of the West, Russia and China are confronted, contrasting the world of democracy and international order, on the one hand, and the authoritarian revisionist regimes on the other.
Russia has weaponised information, targeting both Russian-speaking populations and other Westerners, trying to distort reality, said Kols in his address. A well-educated and informed society will be resistant to the attempts of historical revisionism, revanchism and destabilisation, stressed the Chair of the Saeima Committee.
“Russia’s foreign policy doctrine states that the corruption of the political elite of other countries is part of modern warfare. It is time for the Western world to realise that corruption is also a serious security problem," said Kols. “Those who are worried that the crackdown on corruption, disinformation or Russia can provoke the Kremlin and drag the world into war, should simply to look into the history of the 20th century — nothing provokes a dictator more than the weakness of democratic states,” said Kols in the conclusion of his address.
Saeima Press Service