Germany, Canada to send troops to Baltic States amid Ukraine unrest

  • 2014-09-16
  • From wire reports, RIGA

(photo: twitter)

Germany, Belgium, Hungary and Canada could send troops to Latvia in order to strengthen NATO presence in the region, Latvia's defense minister Raimonds Vejonis has said. 

The announcement comes after NATO said it would boost its presence in eastern Europe amid the crisis in the Ukraine.

The troops will join U.S, Norwegian and Danish soldiers after the countries agreed to send troops to the region.

Defense Minister Raimonds confirmed the new troop deployments after meeting with a special defense committee today.

Earlier, Danish Prime Minister confirmed it would send 300 troops to the region in order to strengthen NATO presence. 

More war games

Meanwhile, more than 10,000 military units from Latvia, Estonia, the United States and Great Britain will participate in military exercises in the Baltic States later this month.

The military exercise "Silver Arrow 2014" will involve land troops and airforce units.

A spokesperson for Latvia's defense ministry has said Latvia may consider building additional infrastructure to host more NATO troops.