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Network participant

Imants Liegis

Former Defence Minister

ELN Latvia

Imants Lieģis is a former Latvian Defense Minister from (2009 to 2010) and former Ambassador.

He served for 17 years as a career diplomat for Latvia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs including as Ambassador to the Benelux (1997-2000), NATO (1997-2004), the EU Political and Security Committee (2005-2007), the Kingdom of Spain (2008-2009), Hungary (2012-2016) and France (2016-2020).

Elected to Parliament in 2010, he was Chairman of the European Affairs Committee and Chairman of Delegation to the NATO PA until October 2011.

Since leaving Government Service in July 2020, he returned to the Latvian Institute of International Affairs as a Senior Research Fellow.

He is a member of the Advisory Board for the European Leadership Network (ELN).

Content by Imants Liegis

Commentary

Network reflections: U.S.-Russia Summit

Trump and Putin are due to meet on Friday to discuss ending the war in Ukraine. In light of the EU leaders’ statement of 12 August that any deal must respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and involve Kyiv, we asked ELN network members what can and what should European governments do to ensure that Washington and Russia act upon those principles? How can the EU influence the outcome of the bilateral talks, sustain transatlantic unity, and prepare for different possible outcomes?

14 August 2025 | Alexandra Dienes, Nicholas Dungan, Anatoliy Grytsenko, Imants Liegis, Yauheni Preiherman and Carsten Sondergaard
See all content by Imants Liegis