Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Thursday that Canada will send a Canadian Armed Forces officer and six staff officers to the headquarters of NATO’s Northern Multinational Division, based in Adaji, Latvia.
The announcement comes after a closed-door meeting with Latvian Prime Minister Krishjanis Karins.
“They will be part of the first-of-its-kind unit in the North Baltic Sea region to help plan, coordinate and integrate regional military activities, which will serve as a long-term and important part of our defense and NATO deterrence capabilities. “Said Trudeau.
The prime minister said it was a long-awaited request from Latvia that would help protect against threats to democracy and global stability.
Canada has already sent nearly 700 troops to Latvia as part of a battle group for a previous presence in Operation Reassurance.
Karinsch said the additional reinforcement was “a step in the right direction and is very, very much appreciated”.
Trudeau said the two discussed the changing dynamics of security in the Baltic region and the need to reassess NATO’s risky stance.
“Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine shows…[it] he is ready to make terrible strategic mistakes and act against all reasonable assumptions and make so many mistakes, “he said.
Karins told CTV News Channel’s Power Play on Wednesday night that Latvia and other Baltic states would like to see NATO’s presence there move from “connectivity” to “active, advanced” defense.
“When we think about our own defense, NATO’s defense, what we need to do is make it much stronger, we need to make it permanent. And we need to change it, say, from tripwire protection … to active protection going forward, “he said.
Karinsch said that in this way the Russians will be deterred from trying to move elsewhere in the future, because it will be clear that their progress will be stopped from the very beginning.
The Latvian prime minister reiterated the call on Thursday.
“NATO’s approach or the right response is a political decision to, in a sense, increase our capabilities to reduce the likelihood of any such attack in the Baltic states,” he said.
Trudeau said the issues would be further discussed at the upcoming NATO summit in Madrid on June 29th.
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