B. Braže at the EU Foreign Affairs Council: “The aggressor must pay – the 19th Sanctions package of the EU and an agreement on using frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine has to be reached urgently.”

On 20 October 2025 in Luxembourg, Minister of Foreign Affairs Baiba Braže, speaking at the EU Foreign Affairs Council, emphasised that the only path to peace is to ensure support for Ukraine’s self-defence and to maintain economic, political and military pressure on Russia. B. Braže called on all EU Member States to take into account Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List, underlining that Latvia has already provided both military and financial assistance to address them.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Baiba Braže:

"Russia not only has no desire for peace but it continues to ‘buy time’ while carrying out increasingly aggressive attacks against Ukraine. The coming months are expected to be extremely difficult for Ukraine, therefore, at this moment it is crucial to provide all necessary military and financial assistance for its self-defence.

Sanctions are working, and Russia’s ‘war economy’ continues to collapse. An agreement on the 19th package of sanctions targeting the ‘shadow fleet’ as well as the energy and financial sectors that enable the aggressor to fund its war against Ukraine has to be reached urgently.

A political agreement must also be reached on the use of Russia’s frozen assets to support Ukraine, in order to find a practical solution as soon as possible.”

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Andrii Sybiha, attended the Council meeting in person. He stressed that Ukraine continues to defend itself against intensifying Russian attacks and that the country’s energy sector is currently at its most critical point since the start of the war. Russia is using the approaching winter as a weapon, combining new sabotage tactics aimed at inflicting maximum damage on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Mr Sybiha called on EU Member States to remain united, to help address Ukraine’s dire needs, to continue all forms of pressure on Russia, and to invest in Ukraine’s defence industry. He also underlined that Ukraine will continue to defend itself and carry out strikes on legitimate military targets within Russian territory in order to limit Russia’s capacity for terrorist actions against Ukraine.

The Ministers expressed support for the expedited establishment of a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine.

In discussions on developments in the Middle East, including the peace process, B. Braže underlined that Latvia highly appreciates the role played by the United States and regional mediators – Egypt, Qatar and Turkey – in achieving progress towards an agreement.

During the debate on the  relations of the EU with countries of the Indo-Pacific region, Ms Braže noted that in recent years Latvia has significantly strengthened its political dialogue with regional partners such as Japan, Singapore, Australia and the Republic of Korea in the fields of security, economy, prevention of sanctions evasion, and combating the “shadow fleet”.

On the margins of the EU Foreign Affairs Council, B. Braže met with Moldova’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mihai Popșoi, as well as Uzbekistan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Bakhtiyor Saidov.

On 19 October, B. Braže participated in the 4th EU-Iraq Cooperation Council meeting. On 20 October, she addressed participants of the Ministerial meeting on cross-regional security and connectivity, attended by representatives from the Eastern Partnership, Central Asian countries and Türkiye.