Latvia should review its foreign policy concept, in which US is main guarantor of security - former defense minister

RIGA - Latvia should review its foreign policy concept, which is based on the US as our main security guarantor, said Artis Pabriks, former defense and foreign minister and current director of the Northern Europe Policy Center, in an interview with LETA.

However, Pabriks emphasized that this does not mean that Latvia should turn away from the US, which is our long-standing friend, and we still hope that it will change its position on Europe in a positive direction. "At the same time, as a small country, we cannot afford to live in illusions, dreams, and assumptions," said Pabriks.

According to him, only 20 percent of Germans trust the US military security guarantees. "Trust is melting like snow in spring. I can bet that if we conduct such a survey among the Latvian public, the level of trust in the US will be much lower than it was three years ago," Pabriks estimated.

In his opinion, this means that Latvia must seek alternatives while continuing to work with "our US friends," because there are very different politicians in the US Congress. "However, we cannot rely on them having sufficient political weight in a critical situation to make the decision to help us," Pabriks stated.

Therefore, according to Pabriks, we must also look for other sources of support within the existing framework of transatlantic cooperation. "The main thing is cooperation between the Baltic Sea countries, which have sufficient economic and military power," said Pabriks.