The unexpected "secret" visit of the CIA chief to Moscow via Riga has sparked a multitude of rumors, speculations, and hypotheses. One widely circulated version in the global media is that the head of the powerful intelligence agency visited Russia partly to dissuade the Kremlin from attacking NATO territory, particularly the Baltic states. In Latvia, discussions about military threats have resurfaced. Here’s how Janis Kažociņš, the former head of the Constitutional Protection Bureau and now a senior researcher at the Center for Geopolitical Studies, commented on this in an interview with TV-3: "Let’s remember that in Russia's hybrid war, the psychological aspect, the cognitive war, is very important. The best way to intimidate those who support Ukraine the most is to make them understand that they are the ones who will be attacked, that is, us, and that it will be very bad for us." Kažociņš also emphasized that there is currently no direct military threat to Latvia. A more realistic risk comes from hybrid attacks or provocations, the connection of which to Russia would be difficult to prove immediately, but whose aim could be to test the action of NATO's Article Five.
