Latvian foreign minister calls for sanctions to choke Russian missile production

Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braže wants sanctions aimed at the companies she says help Russia manufacture ballistic missiles. “We know which companies they are, now swift sanctions are needed,” she said.

Braže had returned from Ukraine only weeks earlier. She was in Kyiv during Russia’s major air attack on August 4-5 and spent part of the night in a shelter, alongside many others in the city.

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We know which companies they are, now swift sanctions are needed.

The attack killed at least 17 civilians and exposed Ukraine’s shortage of air-defense missiles, according to Braže’s account. The city could not intercept all the drones and ballistic missiles striking it.

“Russians can kill people, knock out infrastructure and destroy houses, but they cannot kill Ukrainians’ will to be free,” Braže said. The Latvian minister has become known, like other Baltic politicians, for her outspoken criticism of Russia.

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Russians can kill people, knock out infrastructure and destroy houses, but they cannot kill Ukrainians’ will to be free.