NATO reinforces its troop contingents in Estonia and Lithuania

Two of the three Baltic states, Estonia and Lithuania, will host reinforcement troops as part of NATO’s Enhanced Forward Presence mission battle groups, in response to heightened tensions around Ukraine.

A spokesman for the Estonian Ministry of Defense confirmed this Friday to Eph that Great Britain will send more than 800 troops to reinforce the troops it already has deployed in the northernmost of the Baltic republics.

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauséda reported on Thursday that Germany will send 350 soldiers who will reinforce the multinational combat group led by the Bundeswehr in that country.

According to a spokesman for the Latvian Ministry of Defense, at the moment there is no information that Canada, which leads the combat group in that country, intends to send more troops to add to the 500 soldiers it has deployed.

Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand visited Latvia on February 3 and said she would “examine the option of sending more troops” and discuss the matter with military leaders and the prime minister upon her return to Canada.

The battle groups, each made up of a lead country and troops from various NATO partners, numbered a total of 1,500 soldiers before the current reinforcements; its purpose is to serve as a rapid reaction force and as a “tripwire” in the event of an assault.

In the event of a direct threat, the three Baltic states plan to call first on their own small defense forces and reservists to hold off the attack until NATO troops arrive by land or air.

Estonia has a land army of around 6,700 soldiers and a reserve of 60,000 volunteers; Latvia has 6,500 active troops and 3,000 National Guardsmen, who can be supported by 3,000 reservists, while Lithuania has 10,675 active soldiers and 5,290 active reservists.

All three countries have anti-tank and anti-aircraft defensive systems, as well as several hundred armored fighting vehicles and self-propelled and towed artillery platforms.

Latvia has reached an initial agreement with the Finnish company Patria to build and assemble armored fighting vehicles and plans for a joint purchase of multiple rocket launcher batteries are also being discussed.

However, apart from helicopters and small transport planes, the air forces of the three countries do not have modern fighter-bombers and interceptor aircraft, so they rely on air patrols from NATO rotation groups for surveillance. .

The governments of the three republics have expressed the need to increase defense spending from the current 2% of GDP to 2.5%, a goal that Lithuania wants to achieve by 2030. (I)