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Why Latvia weighed bringing back conscription
Summary
A look back at the plan reported on 6 July 2022, set beside a claim from Minsk days earlier.
Why was Latvia, which had abolished conscription in 2006, planning to bring it back? On 6 July 2022, the answer given was the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
As reported at the time, the plan was not final. The decision rested with the Saeima, Latvia's parliament, so the proposal still faced a parliamentary process on that date.
The move showed how the war in Ukraine was shaping defence thinking in a neighbouring state, with a policy dropped 16 years earlier now back under consideration.
A claim from Minsk
Four days before, on 2 July 2022, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said his country had intercepted Ukrainian missiles aimed at Belarus three days earlier. He also said Belarus did not want war with Ukraine.
Taken together, the two reports show the region's governments reacting to the war in different ways: Latvia by considering a change to its military service, and Belarus by publicly addressing the risk of a wider conflict.
