U.S. Army Soldiers assigned to Alpha Company "Spiders", 4-3 Assault Helicopter Battalion, 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade, conduct Gunnery Table II with members of the Latvian Air Force at Ādaži Military Training Area (US Army)
RIGA — Latvian Defense Minister Andris Sprūds resigned on Sunday following several criticized shortcomings in drone detection and lagging mobile alarms after drones entered the country’s airspace in the direction of Russia and hit an oil storage plant.
Sprūds announced his resignation during a press conference Sunday evening, stating that the decision was made “in order to protect Latvia’s army from divisive political campaigning.”
The declaration came shortly after Latvian Prime Minister Evika Siliņa convened an extraordinary meeting of the coalition partners where she called on Sprūds to step down, her office told Breaking Defense in an emailed statement.
“I have made a decision — the Minister of Defense has lost [both] my and the public’s trust, and I have requested his resignation,” the state-funded Latvian national broadcaster LSM quoted Siliņa as saying, a statement her office confirmed was accurate.
