The Baltic Council of Ministers (BSM) and the Baltic Assembly (BA) - advisory bodies for cooperation between the parliaments of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - announced the need to "respond to gaps" in the air defense of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. They explained their position by the fact that Russia allegedly "is increasing its military presence" and "allocating additional funds" at the borders of the Baltic countries.
“We emphasize the need to respond to gaps in the air defense system in the Baltic states at the level of individual states, the region and NATO, as well as to increase the alliance’s ability to deploy reinforcements, including the full implementation of the NATO Readiness Initiative,” the statement read.
Such calls in the Baltic States are not the first to sound. So, in the fall, the Advisor to the President of Lithuania on defense Jonas Vytautas Zhukas turned to the neighbors with a proposal to create a regional air defense system, noting that the Baltic countries are “unreasonable” to protect their airspace separately.
In addition to strengthening air defense, the document calls for maintaining and strengthening NATO's presence on land, in airspace and at sea. And also note the importance of "long-term planning and conduct of military exercises."
“The Baltic states will strive to adapt and strengthen NATO’s position of defense and deterrence in our region, focusing on long-term planning, the NATO Enhanced Forward Presence program, exercises, and Baltic Air Patrol,” the statement says.
The representatives of the Baltic states in their address also note the importance of state cooperation in such areas as “conducting civil and military missions and operations”, and emphasize the need to “increase the level of command of the situation and deter hybrid attacks”.
Recall that back in August, Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu expressed hope that Tallinn’s cooperation with NATO would not weaken in the future. In turn, the Minister of Defense of Latvia Artis Pabriks called for an increase in defense spending by the republic in excess of 2% of GDP requested by NATO.
This attitude of the Baltic states is strongly supported in the USA. So, in the summer in Washington they proposed to make efforts to develop a strategy aimed at strengthening cooperation, including with Tallinn, Vilnius and Riga, in order to curb "aggression" from Moscow in the Baltic region.
In Russia, such far-fetched accusations have repeatedly been refuted. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu stated that representatives of the countries of the North Atlantic Alliance "are actively using the myth of the Russian threat." At the same time, he recalled the increased intelligence activity of NATO in the Baltic and the Black Sea region.
- Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu
- © Sputnik / Mikhail Klimentyev / Kremlin via REUTERS
As Shoigu reminded, the West itself escalates tensions, making efforts to ensure increased mobility in Europe of the US Armed Forces. In particular, in the Baltic countries and Eastern European countries.
“Under these conditions, we are forced to take retaliatory measures and must be prepared to neutralize possible military threats in all directions,” the head of the Ministry of Defense said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also recalled NATO’s military activity near the borders of Russia and noted that the relevant brigades are currently deployed in the Baltic countries, as well as the “creation of American anti-ballistic missile defense systems in Romania” and Poland.
Russia respects the sovereignty of the Baltic states and hopes for the development of good neighborly relations. This was in an interview with RT the first deputy chairman of the committee of the Federation Council on Foreign Affairs, Vladimir Dzhabarov. At the same time, he emphasized that the Russian Federation does not aim to attack neighboring states.
“These are independent states, whose sovereignty we respect, we are committed to good neighborly relations. But, unfortunately, the Baltic countries began to actively cooperate within the framework of NATO and are trying to provide their territory for new American weapons, new air defense systems ... I think that we need to calm down and engage in the peaceful construction of their states. Let them be calm - Russia will never come to their countries with aggression, ”the senator said.
“Respond to any Russian provocations”
In the document, representatives of the Baltic countries also accused Russia of the fact that its actions allegedly led to the termination of the Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles (INF Treaty), to which the United States and the Russian Federation were parties.
“ The testing, development and deployment by Russia of missile systems that violate the INF Treaty led to the termination of this treaty, which undermines the existing security architecture, strengthens the atmosphere of mistrust and increases unpredictability,” the document says.
Recall, on October 20, 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump announced the withdrawal of the United States from the INF Treaty. As the American leader noted, such a decision is dictated by the fact that Russia allegedly does not comply with the terms of the agreement. On August 2, 2019, the contract was terminated.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin
- © Sputnik / Alexei Druzhinin / Kremlin via REUTERS
Washington did not show any evidence that Moscow failed to comply with the terms of the agreement, as Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized. Moreover, he recalled that the United States was not completely frank, saying that the Aegis missile defense systems deployed in Europe, allegedly, could not be used to launch INF missiles.
“And then the“ boom ”, and they themselves announced that the Aegis launch systems were used to launch these medium-range missiles ... It’s clear that we were inflated or tried to inflate,” Putin added.
The Baltic countries remain true to themselves - they are well aware that they have no other card than the anti-Russian one. Such an opinion in a conversation with RT was expressed by the corresponding member of the Academy of Military Sciences Sergey Sudakov. According to him, such rhetoric is explained by NATO’s desire to rally European countries in the face of an imaginary threat in order to increase their defense spending, which Donald Trump has often mentioned recently.
“We see that the exclusive necessity of the NATO bloc is that it is impossible now to come up with another idea to unite the nations and make them pay big money. To date, the most Russophobic sentiment is in the Baltic states. Most often, the Baltic countries participate in all kinds of exercises with the goal of somehow fighting off the “Russian threat,” the expert explained.
He also stressed that NATO countries should stop spreading fakes and deal with real threats.
“This is increasingly being promoted for the media, not in reality, because the reality today is completely different. Russia absolutely does not need to attack the Baltic countries, Russia does not have such goals. Unfortunately, we see that Russophobia is still in demand and sells well enough, ”the expert concluded in an interview with RT.