2024 was a busy year for advocacy on the U.S.-Baltic front. 2025 will continue to be so.
In the U.S. Congress, a sign of success is the fast-growing interest in the Baltic Caucus, as both House and Senate Caucuses increased exponentially. 34 new House members joined in 2023-2024 during the 118th Congress to raise membership to 94. The Senate Baltic Freedom Caucus increased by ten members and is currently 22. Current Caucus leaders are Senators Richard Durbin (D-Illinois) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), and Representatives Don Bacon (R-Nebraska) and Salud Car-bajal (D-California), who takes his position in January. There were possibly more congressional and staff delegations visiting the Baltic countries than ever. Reciprocal visits from the Baltics were also quite frequent, most recently from the chairs of parliamentary foreign affairs committees.
The Joint Baltic American National Committee’s seventh consecutive Baltic Advocacy Days were held from April 8 to 12, 2024. JBANC announced that its next Baltic Advocacy Days will occur from March 31 to April 2, 2025. It will be more important than ever to continue our support for Ukraine and reinforce U.S. security assistance to Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Please join us!
Baltic Security Initiative. JBANC’s top legislative priority during the year was to support a $350 million FY 2025 defense appropriation for the Baltic Security Initiative (BSI) to enhance the defensive capabilities of the Baltic region. BSI funding helps increase interoperability among allies in the Baltic region and improve existing capacity-building projects. BSI funding has grown slightly yearly, with the FY2024 appropriation level at $228 million. During its summer outreach campaign, JBANC urged Senators to support an amendment to the Senate version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), asking to authorize the BSI at $350M annually for the next three years.
Support for Ukraine. A supplemental funding package of $61 billion for Ukraine passed in the House on April 20 by a vote of 311-112. The Senate then passed it by 79-18 on April 23. President Biden signed the bill into law on April 24, 2024. It’s not certain when another Ukraine spending package will be introduced. JBANC also endorsed legislation to help use seized Russian assets to aid in Ukraine’s reconstruction, and another bill to enhance the U.S.-Ukraine military relationship. The American Coalition for Ukraine held Ukraine Action Summits in the U.S. Congress in April and September 2024 with over 500 participants from about 45 states. JBANC has been a member of the ACU and looks forward to the next Summit in April 2025. We continue to support Ukraine through our work in the Central and East European Coalition where our partner organization, the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, will have its Ukrainian Days on the Hill on February 24-25, 2025.
On February 24, 2024—the second anniversary of Russia’s new mass invasion of Ukraine — many Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians participated in the giant rally for Ukraine at the Lincoln Memorial with thousands of demonstrators. We’ll be there again in force on February 24, 2025.
A webinar was organized by the Central and East European Coalition (CEEC) on “Ukrainian & Baltic Perspectives on the NATO Summit” on July 2, moderated by the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Trudy Rubin, with guests Yehor Cherniev and Eerik-Niiles Kross, from the Ukrainian and Estonian parliaments.
On July 8, JBANC organized an event in the U.S. Capitol to draw attention to NATO’s Eastern Flank and Ukraine with delegations from eleven countries spanning the Central and Eastern European and Nordic region. The CEEC helped support the event. All three Baltic Speakers of parliament were present, including Lauri Hussar from Estonia’s Riigikogu.
On July 23, JBANC marked the 84th anniversary of the Welles Declaration by honoring the legacy of Sumner Welles and Lloyd Hender-son, key figures in formulating the U.S. policy to never recognize the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states. Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur and U.S. Acting Assistant Secretary of State Yuri Kim gave remarks, and the Baltic embassies participated in the event, which was our ninth consecutive time to mark the occasion.
On July 30, JBANC hosted the Baltic American Freedom Foundation’s (BAFF) Summer Leadership Academy visit to Congress, with 30 high school students from the Baltic countries. It was the eighth time that JBANC has hosted the event, in conjunction with the Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE), which helps administer and manage the Academy and other BAFF scholarship programs. Speakers included officials from the three Baltic em-bassies, and Mariliis Tõitoja, a BAFF Research Fellow at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation from Estonia.
On August 23, JBANC, the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, and the Baltic embassies were among about 100 participants gathered in Washington, DC, to celebrate 35 years since the Baltic Way, and to commemorate Black Ribbon Day. The celebration featured 200 handprints from Baltic youth campers from Jõekääru (the Estonian Camp in Ontario, Canada), Nujorkas Draudzes Nometne Katskilos (Latvian camp in Catskills, New York), and Neringa (Lithuanian Camp in Vermont). High school student Gabriella Avicolli from Brooklyn, New York initiated this project to direct campers to write messages supporting the Baltics and Ukraine.
JBANC participated in the annual Baltic Unity Day at the Estonian House in Lakewood, New Jersey, in October, and participated in EANC’s annual meeting in Chicago in November.
JBANC held six online Baltic Spotlight events in 2024 with Baltic experts, the latest on November 14 with Professor Mart Kuldkepp, a visiting professor at Yale. Please visit our YouTube (“JBANC Baltics”) or Spotify (“Baltic Spotlight”) spaces to access our archived programs.
JBANC board, staff, and interns.
Mai-Liis Bartling, Marju Rink-Abel, and Kia Liis Martinson continued on the JBANC board as EANC representatives. Karl Altau is the Managing Director. The following interns were with us during 2024: Lee Allen joined JBANC starting in February. Yuchae Lee was the fifth Korea WEST intern from March to June. The American Latvian Association’s summer intern was Liene Craft from Dayton, Ohio; and Kertu Niit from Estonia came via The Fund from American Studies. Hindrek Pärg, from Estonia, began an eleven-month professional internship in June, courtesy of BAFF, and Karl-Heikki Jõks joined the team for four months starting in August. Markuss Kozlinskis from Latvia, another BAFF intern from Latvia, joined us in November for an eleven-month assignment.
Karl Altau, JBANC
