President points to crucial role of forthcoming NATO Summit

RIGA - If the NATO Summit in The Hague fails to reaffirm NATO unity, we will see another Russian campaign claiming that the West is divided, President of Latvia Edgars Rinkevics said in his address at the Riga StratCom Dialogue 2025 conference dedicated to strategic communication.

In his address, the President said that looking at the geopolitical situation, Ukraine continues to fight and Russia is becoming more aggressive. "Russia feels that it is winning this war, and in politics, especially in international relations, sometimes it is the perception that is more important than the reality. Those who work in the field of strategic communication know very well that perception is key in the 21st century," Rinkevics said.

He pointed out that Europe and NATO are still trying to fully grasp that the world has changed significantly, that we are no longer living by the old rules and that much more resources need to be allocated to defense. "And this is not just about a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP), but about real capabilities," the President said.

Speaking about the next NATO Summit in The Hague from the perspective of strategic communication, Rinkevics said he hoped that this would be a summit of unity, where a clear message would be sent - the Alliance is stronger than ever.

In addition, the President expressed the hope that a decision would be taken in Latvia to allocate 5% of GDP to defense. "It will not be easy, there are many other challenges - demography, healthcare, social security, education - but the government and the parliament understand that next year spending 5 percent of GDP on defense is a top priority," Rinkevics said.

The President also pointed out that there is not much time to develop our capabilities and reach the capacities agreed in NATO. "We very much hope that those countries, where there are still discussions about allocating 2 percent of GDP to defense, will change their position and take decisions both on increasing funding and on actually developing capabilities," Rinkevics said.

At the same time, the President stressed that in addition to hybrid threats, migration being used as an instrument of influence, disinformation campaigns, social media manipulation and attempts to interfere in elections, there is a new threat - attacks on underwater infrastructure in the Baltic Sea. Similarly, artificial intelligence offers both enormous opportunities and risks.

In addition, the President stressed that an important aspect is how we continue to support Ukraine, and how the pledges made last year at the NATO Summit in Washington - on air defense, more ammunition, support for strengthening drone capabilities - are being kept. "These are three things that Ukrainian President [Volodymyr] Zelensky underlined when we met in Vilnius last week," Rinkevics said.

The President stressed that Ukraine's future lies not only in the European Union, but also in NATO. Rinkevics said that ways must be found to increase support for Ukraine on the battlefield and also how to win the information war.

The NATO Strategic Communications Center of Excellence (Stratcom) in Riga is a multinational, NATO-accredited military organization working to improve the strategic communications capabilities of the Alliance and its partners. The Center was established in 2014.