# Latvia > [!info] Gateway page > One of the fifteen former Soviet republics compared at [[Post-Soviet States]]. **Latvia** is the Baltic state with the largest ethnic-Russian minority — just under a quarter of the population — and, in 2026, the one whose government actually fell over the Russia–Ukraine war's spillover. The fall was about how to defend against the war, not about which side to be on: Latvia has been in [[NATO]] and the [[European Union]] since 2004 and nobody in its governing coalitions proposes otherwise. | Item | Detail | |---|---| | Independence | Restoration declared 4 May 1990; recognized by the USSR 6 September 1991 | | Head of state | President Edgars Rinkēvičs | | Head of government | Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs (United List), heading a caretaker government approved by the Saeima in May 2026 | | Next election | Saeima election 3 October 2026 | | Blocs | NATO and EU (2004); never in the CIS, CSTO or [[Eurasian Economic Union]] | | Russian forces | None — withdrawn 31 August 1994 | | Population | About 1.845 million (start of 2026); ethnic Russians about 23% (2025) *[single-sourced]* | ## Where it stands with Moscow - **The government that fell.** Prime Minister Evika Siliņa's government resigned on 14 May 2026 after a dispute over its handling of stray drones; defence minister Andris Sprūds had already been dismissed. A Ukrainian drone detonated near Krāslava on 25 March 2026 and another exploded at an oil storage facility in Rēzekne in May. The drones were Ukrainian; the likeliest explanation for their arrival in Latvia is Russian GPS jamming. - **Off the Russian grid** with [[Estonia]] and [[Lithuania]] on 8 February 2025. - **Landmines.** The Saeima voted in April 2025 to leave the [[Ottawa Treaty]]. - **The Belarus border.** Latvia reports nearly 50,000 illegal crossing attempts from [[Belarus]] blocked since 2021, 8,992 of them in 2026 *[single-sourced]* — the migrant-pressure tactic Minsk has used against all its EU neighbours. - **Rail.** On 1 July 2026 Russia closed rail crossings into Latvia, Estonia and Finland. > [!note] Election pending > The 3 October 2026 Saeima election falls three days after this page was written. Update the head-of-government row once a government is formed. ## See Also - [[Post-Soviet States]] — all fifteen former republics compared - [[Estonia]] - [[Lithuania]] - [[NATO]]