NATO military senior officer reaffirms solidarity to Latvia

The ongoing crisis in Ukraine has reinforced solidarity among the Allies and shown that theircommitment to maintaining peace and security in the Euro-Atlantic area is stronger than ever. “Latvia made a free and sovereign choice ten years ago and it chose peace, stability and independence. Our job is to preserve this stability and do all necessary to defend our Allies,” Lieutenant General Mark Schissler, Deputy Chairman of the NATO Military Committee stressed at a joint press conference today with Lieutenant General Raimonds Graube, Latvia’s Chief of Defence.

On 16 April 2014, the North Atlantic Council agreed on further military measures to reinforce collective defence and demonstrate the strength of allied solidarity.  Speaking from Riga, the Deputy Chairman said that those measures include tripling NATO’s Air Policing posture in the Baltic region with current allied contributions  from the United Kingdom, Denmark, and Poland and further offers from Germany and Canada. Enhancing maritime situational awareness by deploying allied warships to the Baltic Sea from Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium and Estonia, as well as daily AWACS surveillance missions over Poland and Romania.  In addition, Lieutenant General Schissler stated that soldiers from individual Allied countries will train and exercise together in the region, in order to enhance readiness and show their commitment. 

“These measures are defensive and entirely in line with our Alliance commitments. They send a clear message that NATO will protect every Ally and defend against any threat to our fundamental security,” said the Deputy Chairman of NATO’s Military Committee. “In the long term, we will have to review our military posture and readiness in the light of the new strategic security situation.  It is too early to draw detailed conclusions, but we will have to discuss this as we prepare for the NATO Summit in Wales this September,” he added.

Since 2003, Latvia has supported the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan and actively contributed to train, advise and assist the Afghan National Security Forces.  It has also participated in many NATO exercises and hosted Steadfast Jazz 2013, which successfully trained around 6,000 personnel from 28 NATO member nations as well as three-partner nations (Sweden, Finland and Ukraine) in a combined multinational setting.  “Your contribution to the NATO Response Force is much appreciated, particularly in the maritime domain…There is no doubt that your commitment to this Alliance is solid,” emphasized Lieutenant General Schissler.

During his trip, which will conclude on Wednesday 30 April 2014, the Deputy Chairman will hold talks with Mr. Raimonds Vējonis, Latvia’s Minister of Defence, and visit Lielvārde Air Force Base.