Lithuania ‘would gladly host’ Patriot
SIAULIAI AIR BASE:Nato should permanently deploy antiaircraft weapons in the Baltics to deter Russia, Lithuania’s president said yesterday as the United States put Patriot missiles on display after including them in an exercise in the region for the first time.
A permanent deployment of the advanced air defence system would be the next step in Nato’s new deterrent in the Baltics and Poland, which includes ground troops on rotation. Moscow says it is an unjustified military buildup on its borders.
‘‘It would be really meaningful to have such weapons in the Baltic region. It would ensure a greater security for all our countries,’’ Lithuania’s President Dalia Grybauskaite told reporters, standing in front of Patriot missiles deployed as part of a twoweek Nato exercise.
‘‘We would gladly host them,’’ she said of the missiles. ‘‘We are always ready.’’
Since Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and began providing weapons and troops to separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine, Nato has stepped up its deployments in the Baltics, eastern Poland and around the Black Sea.
Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, which were once ruled from Moscow but are now part of Nato and the European Union, are set to triple their defence spending by 2018 from 2014, to deal with any threats from Russia.
But with small militaries and limited budgets, the Baltics rely on help from allies for advanced capabilities, including longrange antiaircraft weapons.
Russia says Nato is increasing the risk of conflict in Europe, citing the alliance’s biggest modernisation since the Cold War and a greater Nato troop presence in eastern Europe. — Reuters