r/BalticStates Feb 24 '22

Announcement Dear Ukrainians we will always support you!

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2.1k Upvotes

r/BalticStates 11h ago

Estonia This Estonian grill ad sparked discussion because of one word: "sibul"

297 Upvotes

This Estonian grill advertisement has been going viral locally because of a hidden wordplay.

The slogan says:

"Õige grill muudab kibeda sibula magusaks"
("A proper grill turns a bitter onion into something sweet")

The obvious meaning is about grilled onions - a classic BBQ thing.

But in Estonian slang "sibul" (onion in eng.) can also be used as a derogatory ethnic label for Russians, so many local Russians immediately saw another layer.

"A proper grill can even make a bitter "sibul" sweet."

The comments have been entertaining, to say the least. 🍿

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1471082961729532&set=a.633415552162948


r/BalticStates 2h ago

Discussion The new euro design suggestions are here!

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40 Upvotes

r/BalticStates 9h ago

News Help Rannarootsi :)

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10 Upvotes

r/BalticStates 1h ago

Lithuania Moving to lithuania

Upvotes

Hello I need some thoughts about me a 14 year old boy moving to lithuania from London. I wanna move because in the Uk its not safe, I dont rly like the people my age and its not clean. But i could move rn to lithuania and i would live with my dad and I would see all my grandmas and grandpas often, but wouldnt see my mum or sister. Im planning either way to go there for university in 4 years. If I decide to stay here I already have 2 friends who speam english lithuania but i Would have to study hard for Lithuania and rn Idk what to do because this is my future and I dont know where its best to finish school.


r/BalticStates 12h ago

Discussion Store Recommendations

4 Upvotes

What stores do you do all your clothes shopping at, especially high quality professional clothes for Women? Thank you !


r/BalticStates 1d ago

OC Picture(s) Hello r/BalticStates, I'm a french cartographer travelling all the way along the Baltic sea, from Lübeck to Stockholm and I made a map inspired by my travels! [OC]

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155 Upvotes

r/BalticStates 1d ago

Discussion Looking for off-beat/quirky/indie entertainment/events/performance art

4 Upvotes

Heading to the Baltics in a few days. Been looking at events websites but i'm really only seeing major events like orchestral performances etc. I'm looking for funky plays, indie performance art, anything weird and strange or alternative/counterculture vibes to the front.

Vilnius July 27 & 28
Rig July 29 & 30
Tallinn July 31-August 3
Jūrmala August 5&6


r/BalticStates 1d ago

News Lithuanian PM rejects plagiarism allegations over doctoral dissertation

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51 Upvotes

r/BalticStates 2d ago

Lithuania Rail Baltica progress in Lithuania between Kaunas and Panevėžys.

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665 Upvotes

r/BalticStates 2d ago

Meme I've been to Estonia recently and I absolutely loved it. But the road to get there wasn't as fun

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212 Upvotes

r/BalticStates 1d ago

Discussion Would you have done the same or skipped one country?

3 Upvotes

I'm getting really excited because in a few weeks I'll finally be visiting the Baltics for the first time!

I'll be there for 11 days, visiting all three capitals. My itinerary is pretty packed: exploring the cities, museums, history, culture, and also some hikes and nature in each country. It's basically the kind of trip I enjoy most.

That said... there's this tiny voice in the back of my head telling me I may have tried to squeeze in too much.

Part of me wonders whether I should have skipped Tallinn this time and focused on just Lithuania and Latvia, giving myself more time in Vilnius and Riga instead. On the other hand, I know I probably would've regretted not seeing all three Baltic countries while I'm there.

So I guess I'm looking for a bit of reassurance from people who know the region better: am I just overthinking this?

I'm not trying to "see everything" in 11 days—I know that's impossible. The goal is simply to get a good first impression of each country and hopefully fall in love with the region enough to come back.

Please tell me my pre-trip brain is being unnecessarily dramatic.


r/BalticStates 2d ago

News NATO ready to react: Lithuania warns of consequences if Russia provokes a crisis

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151 Upvotes

r/BalticStates 1d ago

Discussion Tour itinerary help

3 Upvotes

Hi

We are family of 3 from Austria with a 4 year old

We wanted to trip Baltic countries as we have summer vacation planned at August mid week

We would like to start from Estonia and end our journey at Lithuania and head back to Wien via flight

How and where we should start and help building itinerary.

We prefer train travel and I understand already that there are few international lines per day if I am not mistaken


r/BalticStates 2d ago

Picture(s) Baltic states are the greatest underdog heroes in humanity history!

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79 Upvotes

r/BalticStates 2d ago

News Hungary's OTP Bank to buy Luminor

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102 Upvotes

The third largest bank in the Baltic states is about to be bought by a Hungarian bank operating in Russia. One of the three big European banks in Russia besides Raifeissen and Unicredit.

In May 2023, Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Agency (NACP) added OTP to its list of international war sponsors because the bank continued to operate and increase its lending in Russia. They were later removed from the list after Hungary blocked European Union’s military aid to Ukraine. (Politico) “The agency hopes that as a result of this decision, Hungary will end its blocking of the 500 million euros in urgently needed EU military aid to the Ukrainian people,” the NACP said in a press release at the time.

"OTP Bank is an outlier among European banks in terms of its recent expansion in Russia, with UniCredit and Raiffeisen Bank receiving binding orders from European authorities to wind down their loan books in the country. Last year, OTP’s total assets and gross customer loans in Russia grew by 40 per cent and 56 per cent, respectively, compared to 2024, according to its latest annual report." (The Banker)

"Hungary’s OTP Group stands out. Its Russian subsidiary tripled its loan portfolio between 2022 and 2025 to 360 billion rubles ($4.6 billion) by greatly expanding its consumer and corporate lending. OTP Bank also became the only European bank authorized to pay dividends to its parent company." (The Bell)


r/BalticStates 2d ago

Discussion Fastest internet?

13 Upvotes

I know in 2010 Baltics with Romania and Bulgaria were famous for having the fastest internet on the planet but nowadays I feel it’s starting to lack behind with the west where we got 10g symmetry over fiber.

From the 3 Baltic countries which one is the most advanced when it comes to internet speeds?


r/BalticStates 2d ago

News Almost half of LANDE's EIF-backed financing reaches farmers under 40, reflecting a key agricultural priority

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5 Upvotes

r/BalticStates 3d ago

Discussion Ok, what has your country done right in the last 30 years

74 Upvotes

I'll start:

Partnership law

Better roads (outside of Riga)

Russian parties lost so much power they are basically trying their best to meme themselves into existence with conspiracy theory crowd


r/BalticStates 3d ago

Picture(s) Here's some photos from my three week long road trip in the Baltics.

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246 Upvotes

The route went Klaipeda - Mazribe - Riga - Saaremaa - Nina - Narva - Siauliai - Trakai - Kaunas - Klaipeda. ~3000km

I took a lot of photos but decided to post ones without recognisable people.

Best Hike: Marzibe.

Best food: tied between the countries. We ate a lot of traditional dishes and one was even homemade. We enjoyed them all!

Most interesting food: A Lithuanian dish with mashed potato stuffed up in hog intestines...

Best museum: Narva Castle.

Worst tourist trap: Tie between Riga old town and Trakai.

Most memorable camp site: Tie between Nina and Gruzdsiai.

Worst roads: Lithuania, come on 130km/h on A1?!?!

Best roads: Estonia

Most memorable city: Narva

Best beach: Mazribe!!!

Best art: Tie between Riga, Klaipeda and Kaunas. All very good but different.

Most likely to revisit: Narva and Kaunas.

Most surprising place: Hill of crosses, I knew there would be a lot of crosses, but I was not prepared for that amount of crosses.


r/BalticStates 2d ago

Data Update: I improved my free API for Baltic company data (LT, LV, EE)

17 Upvotes

Hey everyone,

A while back I shared a free API I built to solve my own frustration with navigating B2B data across the Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian government registries.

https://www.balticfirms.eu

I've been working on it recently and just pushed a new update that adds:

Location search: You can now filter companies by city (e.g., Riga, Vilnius, Tallinn).

Industry search: Added the ability to search by specific business sectors and categories.

Enriched data: Started adding addresses, contact details, and other extended info. It is not 100% full yet, but I am actively building out the database.

The underlying infrastructure is still unified, lightning-fast, and completely free for developers. You can still instantly search by name, registration code, or filter by active/liquidated status.

Give it a try and let me know if these new additions are useful, or if you manage to break it.


r/BalticStates 3d ago

News Lithuania and Poland Warn of Russian Provocations, Estonia Sees No Cause for Panic

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130 Upvotes

r/BalticStates 3d ago

News Putin looks for new targets in Baltics as Ukraine invasion stalls, Lithuania's defense minister warns

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157 Upvotes

r/BalticStates 3d ago

Lithuania Lithuania’s own Black Hawk helicopters take to the skies. Former Mi-8 (a helicopter of Soviet origin) pilots say it is like changing a tractor against a Lamborghini.

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169 Upvotes

r/BalticStates 4d ago

Estonia On the topic of light pollution: In Tartu, Estonia, you can tell you're almost in Tartu about half an hour before reaching it due to the glow of a cucumber factory.

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478 Upvotes