Latvian Prime Minister Evika Siliņa announced her resignation on Thursday after a political crisis triggered by repeated drone incursions into Latvian territory brought down her governing coalition just months before parliamentary elections scheduled for October.
Siliņa, leader of the center-right New Unity party, lost her parliamentary majority after the left-leaning Progressives party withdrew support from the coalition. The dispute centered on her decision to dismiss Defense Minister Andris Sprūds following a series of incidents involving drones believed to be Ukrainian in origin that entered Latvian airspace from Russia.
The political fallout intensified after two drones crossed into Latvia on May 7, with one crashing into a fuel storage facility and causing a fire. No injuries were reported, but the incident sparked widespread criticism of the country’s air defense capabilities and emergency response systems. Residents later said they received official warning messages nearly an hour after the drones had already entered the country.
Siliņa argued that the events exposed serious failures inside the defense sector. “The drone incident that occurred this week clearly demonstrated that the political leadership of the defense sector has failed to fulfill its promise of safe skies over our country,” she said earlier this week. Sprūds resigned on Sunday after the prime minister said he had lost both her confidence and public trust.
