Andrius Sytas

Estonia will propose that the leaders of the United Kingdom-led alliance of northern European NATO countries spend no less than 2.5% of GDP on defence in response to the threat from Russia, Prime Minister Kristen Michal said on Monday.

Twelve Western countries have agreed measures to "disrupt and deter" Russia's so-called shadow fleet of vessels in order to prevent sanctions breaches and increase the cost to Moscow of the war in Ukraine, Estonia's government said on Monday.

Lithuania's new centre-left government took office on Thursday, led by Social Democrat Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas and including a party whose leader is on trial accused of antisemitic statements.

Russia would not invade NATO as it has too many complications with the fighting in Ukraine, Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braze said in an interview at the Reuters NEXT conference in New York.

Lithuania has found no sign that the crash on Monday of a DHL cargo plane was caused by sabotage, and believes technical issues were a more likely explanation, officials said on Wednesday.

A DHL cargo plane crashed as it came in to land at Lithuania's Vilnius airport on Monday morning, killing one person in what Germany's foreign minister later said could be an accident or a hybrid attack in "volatile times".

More than 5,000 people protested next to the Lithuanian parliament on Thursday against election winners the Social Democrats entering into a parliamentary coalition with a party whose leader is on trial accused of antisemitic statements.

Lithuania's President Gitanas Nauseda on Monday criticised the Social Democrats' decision to form a government with a party whose leader is accused of antisemitic statements and said he would block its ministers from taking power.

Lithuania's Social Democrats, winners of last month's parliamentary election, defended on Saturday their decision to form a coalition government with a populist party whose leader is standing trial over alleged antisemitic statements.

Parcels that exploded at logistics depots in Europe were part of a test run for a Russian plot to trigger explosions on cargo flights to the United States, according to security officials.