Today, on October 10, the counterterrorism exercise "Wolmar 2024" organised by the Latvian State Security Service (VDD) was successfully carried out in Valmiera and Jāņmuiža.
"For a long time terrorism has posed a serious threat to the security of European countries. The security situation has been affected by the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East. Today’s reality is also Russia’s organised diversions and sabotage in Western European countries, which by their very nature are similar to the terrorist activities", commented the Director General of VDD Normunds Mežviets. "The rise of terrorism threats in Europe must be taken into account by our state as well, despite the fact that the level of terrorism threats in Latvia has been low for a long time."
By organising counterterrorism exercises with full force deployment, VDD provides other services of Latvia with a setting similar to a real-life situation, where to test and improve their action plans and cooperation mechanisms in case of a possible terrorist attack. VDD has been organising counterterrorism exercises with full-force deployment already since 2007 and the exercise "Wolmar 2024" was the 13th training of such scale.
VDD chose Vidzeme for the exercise in order to continue improving the readiness of the regional structures of a number of services to act in case of a terrorist attack. This year for the first time the exercise was conducted on two sites simultaneously, and it did host the largest number of participants thus far – more than 500 representatives from both Latvian and foreign institutions.
During the counterterrorism exercise "Wolmar 2024", the representatives of the competent services tested the readiness to implement the measures prescribed in the Action Plan in Case of Threats to Land Objects (counterterrorism plan "Object") approved by the Cabinet of Ministers to prevent the terrorism threat and remedy the consequences of attacks.
In the exercise in Valmiera Olympic Centre VDD in cooperation with State Police, State Emergency Medical Service, State Fire and Rescue Service, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Prosecutor General Office, Valmiera district municipal police, State Border Guard and National Armed Forces (NAF) in a setting similar to a real-life situation tested and improved the mutual cooperation procedures in case terrorists armed with firearms and explosives attack a mass gathering site and take several dozen hostages. In Valmiera, three Latvia’s special operations units practiced to detain terrorists – State Police Counterterrorism Unit "OMEGA", NAF Special Task Unit and State Border Guard Special Operations Service "Sigma".
Meanwhile in Jāņmuiža the tactical units of VDD and Estonian Internal Security Service (KAPO) in cooperation with NAF Special Task Unit cynologist team trained to detain armed and especially dangerous organisers of a terror act. In this phase of the exercise the support was also received from the Second Vidzeme Brigade of the National Guard, NAF Air Force and Military Police.
To maximally replicate the conditions of a real-life situation, the roles of victims and hostages were played by the cadets of State Police College, State Border Guard College and Colonel Oskars Kalpaks Military High School.
The participants of the exercise "Wolmar 2024" improved their skills in rescue operations, first aid and CPR, triage of persons discovered on site, detaining of terrorists, rescuing of hostages, investigation activities and other elements of a counterterrorism operation.
VDD is Latvia’s leading institution in coordinating the activities in the counterterrorism field of state and municipal institutions as well as other institutions involved in the counterterrorism prevention or response measures.
Insight in the course of the counterterrorism exercise:
Information prepared by VDD
Photos by VDD
