hm trying to think of what 'valsts' is reminding me of...

ok there is 'fast' as in german and english for a hold, ah yes...

darzhava, to use typical crappy bulgarian latinization, "durzh-" (държ-) (dursh) to hold

that was tickling my brain all evening since you posted it 

 I’m not 100% sure, but Latvian “valsts” could be related to “valdīt”, which means “to rule”. In Lithuanian it’s “valstybė”.