“Latvia’s Minister of Defense warns of Russia’s capability for new strategic surprises”

On Monday, May 22, Minister of Defense Ināra Mūrniece, while addressing the defense ministers of the Northern Group, drew the attention of her colleagues to the fact that, despite Russia’s heavy losses in Ukraine, it is wrong to believe that Russia has been weakened by this war and is not capable of new strategic surprises. The meeting of the defense ministers of the Northern Group took place in Poland, in Legionovo, near Warsaw.

At the meeting, discussing the security issues of NATO’s northeastern flank, the ministers agreed that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has significantly changed the security environment. Russia’s aggressive position poses a direct threat to the security, stability and prosperity of the entire Euro-Atlantic area. Therefore, it is very important to continue providing military support to Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s brutal aggression.

“Despite conventional threats to the security of our region, we must be prepared that Russia will also continue to use a wide arsenal of hybrid and nuclear threats to intimidate and weaken western support for Ukraine. Therefore, we must remain united and consistent in our support for Ukraine and continue to be the driving force that consolidates and unites the western democracies for all possible support for Ukraine,” emphasized I. Mūrniece.

The Minister of Defense informed colleagues that Latvia’s military support, including the last package of military support to Ukraine, has already exceeded 1% of the country’s gross domestic product. Latvia is currently concentrating its forces to train officers and soldiers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. A week ago, a new Latvian and Canadian initiative was launched to train Ukraine’s youngest officers in Latvia.

On the other hand, when discussing the priorities of the Northern Group countries at the NATO summit in Vilnius, the defense ministers expressed their belief that in order to confront the current and future threats posed by Russia, the decisions taken at the Vilnius summit must strengthen the deterrence and defense capabilities of the Alliance in the region.

“Latvia will continue to invest in strengthening its defense capabilities and developing new capabilities, while at the same time strengthening the security of NATO and especially the North-Eastern flank of the Alliance. We are consistently increasing the national defense budget – this year it is 2.25% of the gross domestic product, in 2025 it will reach 2.5%, and a few years after that it will already be 3% of the gross domestic product,” said the defense minister.

The Nordic Group is an informal cooperation forum that includes twelve countries – Sweden, Finland, Norway, Iceland, the three Baltic States, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands and Great Britain. The members of the group are united by the goal of developing joint cooperation projects in the field of defense.

The defense ministers of the Northern Group meet twice a year. Every six months, the leadership of the Northern Group is entrusted to a different member state, and currently the leading country of the Northern Group is Poland.