Estabilished in 2019, The Baltic Security Foundation (BSF) promotes the security and defense of the Baltic Sea region.

The Foundation is a result of the Baltic Security Strategy Project (2017-2019) that gathered experts on defence, societal security and economic security to assess the shared challenges for the Baltic States and recommend solutions.

BSF gathers Baltic experts and security experts from the region and beyond. It provides a platform for discussion and research, expert networking, expert mobility, and promotes finding and advocating for solutions that lead to a stronger regional security in military and other areas.


Olevs

Olevs Nikers, President

Senior analyst at the Jamestown Foundation. Former chief expert at the Ministry of Defense of Latvia (2001-2019).

Otto

Otto Tabuns, Director

Foreign and security policy expert for 10 years. Co-host of the “Latvia Weekly” political news program.

Meet our team and experts!

Between Brussels and Beijing

Our new book on the transatlantic response to China

Read here!

Our Recent Articles


U.S. Perspectives on Nord Stream 2

By Matthew Thomas on April 3, 2021

U.S. President Joe Biden has claimed that Nord Stream 2, the controversial Russo-German pipeline project, is a “bad deal for Europe” and has stated his administration’s opposition to the project. At face value, that would appear to be a rare continuity with the previous administration, but a deeper dive into the various perspectives in Washington reveals a much more complicated position. Despite spoken commitments to the bipartisan sanctions regime instituted by the Trump administration, it appears that the Biden administration is ready to wash its hands of the issue and move on.

A Contrarian View of Joe Biden and NATO

By Matthew Thomas on February 27, 2021

In the world of analysis, contrarian viewpoints are equally disliked and necessary. They help shape a more robust understanding of the situation at hand and can prepare countries for the otherwise unexpected. As much of Europe celebrates Joe Biden taking the helm in the United States after the much despised Trump administration, it is worthwhile to take a step back and question whether or not that enthusiasm is really merited. As such, this paper puts forth an unabashedly contrarian viewpoint for the sake of an enriched understanding of the world as it may be going forward, lest the Baltics be caught off guard in the broader optimism of their European counterparts.

Ukraine-Baltic Energy Cooperation in the Context of Russian Hybrid Aggression

By Iryna Zaporizka on January 21, 2021

This article provided by our Ukrainian partners, Ad Astra Despite being different in so many aspects, Ukraine and the Baltic states have always had a lot of things in common, the main one being a troublesome neighbor on the eastern border that we all have to deal with. The dissolution of the Soviet Union opened a new era in Russian foreign policy towards the territories that are or were once perceived as a part of the sphere of influence of the former geopolitical empire.

U.S.-Poland Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement and Why It Matters

By Matthew Thomas on December 23, 2020

On November 9, 2020, 31 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Polish President Andrzej Duda signed the Polish Senate’s ratification bill of the U.S.-Polish Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA). This agreement contains a number of provisions that will facilitate greater defense cooperation between the United States and Poland and improve deterrence and battle readiness for NATO along the alliance’s Eastern Flank. For the Baltics, this ratification is welcome news, as it not only improves the regional deterrent posture, but also a number of crucial conditions in Poland to enable more rapid and effective defense in the event of Russian aggression on their territory.