Latvia’s Defense Minister Artis Pabrix stated on Monday (November 30) that during a visit to the allied forces in the Baltic States, Latvia needs a permanent US military presence to deter Russia and hopes to strengthen it through US Patriot missiles. defense.
U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Brinken was originally scheduled to arrive in Riga, Latvia, later on Monday, and then hold a meeting with 29 NATO counterparts on Tuesday. The coalition was shocked by Russia’s military build-up on the Ukrainian border.
“We need additional international assistance,” Pabriks told Reuters. “We hope to have a permanent US (military) presence in our country. Coastal defense and air defense means that basically it can be attributed to systems such as the Patriot (surface-to-air missile).”
NATO troops are practicing combat skills in the snowy woodlands of Latvia. Equipped with camouflaged tanks and live ammunition, 1,500 soldiers are trying to stop an attack on Riga by interfering with and delaying the advance of unidentified opponents to the north of the city.
“Deterrence is essential,” said Canadian Lieutenant Colonel John Benson, commander of NATO’s battle group in Latvia.
Driven by Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and Moscow’s support for separatists in eastern Ukraine, NATO has deployed four multinational battle groups to defend Poland and the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia since July 2017.
Moscow stated that it had no intention of invading the Baltic Sea or Poland, and accused NATO of destabilizing Europe by bringing its troops close to the Russian border. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that NATO “has no imminent threat.”
Western officials said that in May this year, Russia assembled 100,000 troops on the border with Ukraine, which is the highest number since the annexation of Crimea in 2014. NATO said that this month another large-scale military build-up took place on the Ukrainian border.
The Baltic States are regarded as the most vulnerable flank of NATO because they are only connected to the main NATO territory through a land corridor of approximately 60 kilometers between Poland and Lithuania, known as the Suvaki Gap.
Military experts warned that Russia may seize this gap through Belarus and obtain a land corridor to the heavily fortified Kaliningrad enclave in the Baltic Sea.
Experts say that the US military is stationed in Germany, but may not reach the Baltic Sea fast enough in the event of such an attack.
Pabrix said: “At this moment, we are doing revisionism in Russia…From this point of view, we cannot be late.” He was referring to a copy of Russian President Vladimir Putin. A statement that if he has the opportunity to reverse the disintegration of the Soviet Union, he will reverse the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Change the history of modern Russia.
