Baltic, Polish formins want NATO's major regional reinforcement

  • 2022-04-29
  • BNS/TBT Staff

VILNIUS – The foreign ministers of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland met in Riga on Friday and agreed to seek decisions on defense adaptation and substantial reinforcement of defense on NATO’s eastern flank at the next NATO summit in Madrid.

"We must strive for NATO’s new strategic concept to reflect the changed security situation in Europe, to name Russia as a long-term threat, and to give priority to NATO’s task of collective defense," Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis was quoted as saying in a statement released by the Foreign Ministry. "The existing concept of deterrence is no longer sufficient. Assurances that every inch of our territory will be defended must be at the heart of NATO’s defense strategy."

The foreign ministers also spoke out in favor of providing military support to Ukraine immediately, as Russia’s aggression continued for the third month already.

It was agreed that the EU must include oil in the new package of sanctions on Russia, while frozen Russian assets could be used as reconstruction money for Ukraine.

Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Poland strongly support Ukraine’s European aspirations and call on the EU to adopt its open door policy to this country, Landsbergis said.

The upcoming NATO summit will take place in Madrid on June 29-30.