Lithuania and Latvia began their first joint practical exercises for evacuating residents across their shared border on November 5. A second day of drills is scheduled for November 10. Delfi reported the exercises in an ELTA dispatch citing Lithuania’s Fire and Rescue Department.
On the first day, participants are practising the transfer of people from Daugavpils, Latvia, to Pasvalys, Lithuania. On the second day, the planned route runs in the opposite direction, from Šiauliai in Lithuania to Ķekava in Latvia. According to Lithuanian officials, up to 100 volunteers are taking part and being transported by bus.
The scenario envisages authorities starting a preventive, voluntary evacuation of priority groups in response to a simulated rise in threats in the Baltic region. Lithuania's Fire and Rescue Department said the aim was to test coordination between the two countries during a large-scale crisis. The department stressed that the drills were not prompted by a new, specific threat to residents.