On Friday, 28 April, the Minister of the Interior Māris Kučinskis and the Parliamentary Secretary Igors Rajevs paid a visit to Helsinki, where they met with the Finnish Minister of the Interior Krista Mikkonen, as well as with the management of the Finnish Rescue Service to discuss the implementation and operation of the civil protection system.
One of the main priorities of M.Kučinskis in his role as Minister of the Interior is the establishment of a modern and efficient Civil Protection and Crisis Management System in Latvia. Such a system must meet the requirements of today and be geared towards overcoming today’s challenges. In Finland, attention has been paid to the civil protection system since the middle of the last century, but public support for its development has been particularly high in recent years, given the difficult geopolitical situation in Europe related to the aggression by Russia. Finland has an established civil protection system, which includes shelters for a total of 4,8 million people, public information, civil protection training, etc.
M.Kučinskis pointed out that after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the question of what the Latvian population should do in the event of a military threat has become more pressing, which is why it is now important to develop our civil protection system. During the meetings, it was stressed that the geographical position of Latvia and Finland, i.e. their proximity to the Russian borders, in today’s political reality poses similar challenges to the security of both countries: firstly, border security, the fight against disinformation, etc. Our countries share a similar view of the security challenges in the region: hybrid attacks on the European Union’s (EU) external borders with Belarus and the consequences of hostilities in Ukraine. Both sides agree that, given the geographical location of Latvia and Finland, the civil protection system is of key importance. M.Kučinskis congratulated the Finnish Minister of the Interior on the country’s accession to NATO, noting the need for both countries to cooperate within the framework of the Alliance.
Attention was also drawn to the need to strengthen border security, in particular in the context of hybrid attacks by the Belarusian regime.
“Strengthening the Eastern border is one of the key priorities of my work. This includes the physical strengthening of the border, the installation of surveillance systems and the modernization of border guard equipment,” said the Latvian Minister of the Interior.
Finland has always been one of the most trusted and closest partners of Latvia, and that completely refers to the field of the internal affairs. This is demonstrated by the successful bilateral cooperation between our law enforcement authorities, as well as cooperation in international criminal police organizations, in particular Interpol and Europol.
Prepared by:
Andrejs Vaivars
Advisor to the Minister of the Interior on Communication Issues
Phone: +371 67829685
E-mail: andrejs.vaivars@iem.gov.lv