Abroad|Security policy
The Baltic countries have been concerned that Russia’s military interest could be affected if Ukraine’s defense breaks. The United States is transferring troops to the Baltics from Italy and Germany, and Canada is sending a frigate.
United States and Canada both announced on Tuesday the strengthening of their military presence in the Baltics. The President of the United States first spoke about it Joe Biden in his speech on Tuesday night.
The U.S. is moving its own troops from Italy to the Baltics, the U.S. Department of Defense said. The transfer applies According to the Pentagon 800 soldiers. In addition, eight F-35 fighter jets will be transferred from Germany to various parts of NATO’s eastern membership. Similarly, 20 AH-64 Apache combat helicopters will be transferred from Germany to the Baltics.
Canada send An additional 460 soldiers to Latvia. According to the Canadian Secretary of Defense, an artillery unit of about 120 soldiers will be the first to leave. Later, the Canadian naval HMCS Halifax frigate and the maritime surveillance aircraft CP-140 Aurora will also depart for the Baltics. Latvian broadcasting company LSM mentions that an electronic warfare unit will join Latvia with Canadian forces.
Confirmations from Canada are expected to arrive in March. U.S. confirmations arrive within a week. In total, the United States has about 90,000 troops in Europe.
Of the United States the Ministry of Defense also recalled that 8,500 troops are destined for enhanced preparedness in the event of a NATO activation of the Rapid Reaction Force.
The last time NATO activated these forces was in August, when they were used in a massive evacuation operation in Kabul.
NATO has had a large presence in the Baltic countries and Poland for many years. The reason is that each of these countries has slightly unpleasant neighbors: Russia or Belarus.
The NATO project in the Baltic countries and Poland is called EFP (Enhanced Forward Presence). In Estonia, operations are led by the United Kingdom, Latvia by Canada, Lithuania by Germany and the United States by Poland.
NATO pages updated in February document according to these forces, the combined strength is 4,615 people. There are more than 800 of them in Estonia, more than 1,500 in Latvia, less than 1,300 in Lithuania and about a thousand in Poland.
The figures may not be entirely up to date.
On Tuesday, the German Minister of Defense Christine Lambrecht visited the troops in Lithuania. A visit in the bulletin the number of troops in Lithuania from six different states is now mentioned at 1,500.
In early February, Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand visited Adaz, Latvia, to meet with Canadian troops stationed there.
United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin visited Lithuania earlier in February. During his visit, he also met with Estonian and Latvian ministers. Estonian Minister of Defense Kalle Laanet According to him, Estonia would now be getting the air defense capability it requested during the visit, ie fighters.
“I thank everyone who has worked on this. They have seriously invested in the security of Estonia, ”comments Minister of Defense Laanet on the Estonian Broadcasting Corporation To the ERR.
Earlier in February, Laanet ominously told the news agency Reuters that if Ukraine’s defense breaks down, the next target could be the Baltics.
Minister of Defense of Latvia Artis Pabriks commended the decisions and called on the parliament and the government to speed up the increase of the Latvian defense budget to about 2.5% of the state budget.
“The U.S. decision reaffirms our strategic partner’s commitment to Latvia and its unwavering commitment to NATO’s Article 5 security assurances. The presence of the United States strengthens Latvia’s defense and enables our citizens to feel secure, especially in combination with Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, “Pabriks said on Tuesday night. According to LSM.
Russian the use of armed force in Ukraine over the past week has begun to seem increasingly inevitable. Earlier in February, the situation was exacerbated by joint exercises with Belarus, invented by Russia in particular. Russia brought an estimated 30,000 troops to Belarus under the guise of an exercise, and decided after the exercise that the troops would remain in Belarus.
A “referendum” will be held in Belarus on Sunday to change the country’s constitution. There is no certainty as to what this is aimed at.
Lithuania, Latvia and Poland share a land border with Belarus. The Russian-held Kaliningrad region is also among them. Estonia shares a land border with Russia.
The video shows how the military exercises began in early February:
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