U.S. assures Baltics of NATO protection against Russia
Washington, military alliance mulling permanent basing of troops in region
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday assured Lithuania and Latvia of NATO protection and American support as he made quick visits to two of the three Baltic states that are increasingly on edge as Russia presses ahead with its invasion of Ukraine.
Along with Estonia, which Blinken will visit on Tuesday, the former Soviet republics are NATO members, and the Biden administration is aiming to calm any fears they have about their security in the event Russia chooses to expand its military operations.
In the Latvian capital of Riga, Blinken said the Baltics have “formed a democratic wall that now stands against the tide of autocracy” that Russia is pushing in Europe. “The United States is more committed than ever to standing with you as our democracies rise to the challenge,” he said.
“We are bolstering our shared defence so that we and our allies are prepared,” Blinken said. He stressed that the U.S. commitment to NATO’s mutual defence pact is “sacrosanct” and that NATO and the United States were discussing the permanent basing of troops in the Baltics.
“We will defend every inch of NATO territory if it comes under attack,” he said. “No one should doubt our readiness. No one should doubt our resolve.”
Leaders in both countries expressed grave concerns about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intentions as it relates to former Soviet bloc countries that are now allied or otherwise linked to the West.
“We have no illusions about Putin’s Russia anymore,” Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics said after meeting Blinken in Riga. “We don’t really see any good reason to assume that Russia might change its policy.”
Rinkevics said that the Russian invasion of Ukraine had shown the Baltic countries in particular the need to bolster air and coastal defences and that Latvia would like its security co-operation with NATO to be “more efficient.”
“Unfortunately, the worsening security situation in the Baltic region is of great concern for all of us and around the world,” Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda told Blinken earlier in Vilnius. “Russia’s reckless aggression against Ukraine once again proves that it is a longterm threat to European security, the security of our alliance.”
Memories of Soviet rule are still fresh in the Baltics and since the invasion of Ukraine last month, NATO has moved quickly to boost its troop presence in its eastern flank allies while the U.S. has pledged additional support.
Blinken’s opened his Baltic tour in Vilnius, where Lithuanian support for Ukraine’s resistance to the Russian invasion was palpable as signs of solidarity with Ukrainians are evident in many businesses and on houses, public buildings and buses. He later travelled to Riga, which has been similarly festooned with blue and yellow Ukrainian flags.
Lithuania’s Nauseda said a policy of deterrence was no longer enough and that “forward defence” was now needed. He predicted that “Putin will not stop in Ukraine if he will not be stopped.”
Blinken arrived in the Baltics Sunday from Moldova, which is also watching the war on its doorstep, and Poland, where he visited the Polish-Ukrainian border and met with refugees from Ukraine.
We will defend every inch of NATO territory if it comes under attack. No one should doubt our readiness. No one should doubt our resolve. ANTONY BLINKEN U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE