Punishment policy in situation of hybrid war must be tough - National Security Council

RIGA - The punishment policy in the situation of hybrid warfare should be strict and such as to deter the repetition of crimes and demonstrate the state's readiness to respond to the threat, the National Security Council (NDP) concluded in a meeting on Thursday, the President's Chancellery informed LETA.

The NDP examined reports by the Prosecutor General, the Supreme Court chairman, the Chiefs of the State Border Guard and the State Police on the penal policy and "the necessary actions to ensure that the penal policy for crimes against national security, security of persons, hate crimes and illegal border crossing crimes proportionally achieves all penal objectives".

The participants also heard reports from the responsible services on the current situation on the eastern border. The NDP pointed out that border security measures, including border closures, need to be closely coordinated with Poland and the other Baltic States.

As reported, the Baltic states and Poland are discussing possibilities for a complete closure of their borders with Belarus, and should make decisions on this by the end of this month.

The NDP also heard reports from the Interior Ministry and the Defense Ministry on preparedness to respond to provocations and on cooperation with allies, and took note on information on the exercises by the National Armed Forces (NAF) and the deployment of additional troops to the border area.

As reported earlier, in view of the rapidly growing hybrid threat on the Latvian-Belarusian border, the State Border Guard this week mobilized additional border guards to strengthen the protection of the external border. The Border Guard has also requested additional support from the National Armed Forces and the State Police. Defense Ministe Inara Murniece (National Allliance) has instructed the ar,y to deploy additional forces to the Latvian-Belarusian border.

The president plans to convene the next regular meeting of the NDP in September to discuss the planned actions to urgently secure the border defense infrastructure.