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Latvia Pushes for Greater NATO Presence in the Baltics

© Flickr / The US ArmyParatroopers of 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade depart Lielvarde Airbase (NATO), Latvia. File photo
Paratroopers of 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade depart Lielvarde Airbase (NATO), Latvia. File photo - Sputnik International
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Latvia’s Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics wants NATO to bulk up its ground forces in the country and expand its military training activity in the Baltic region to ward off an imagined “aggression” by Russia.

“NATO should ramp up its ground forces and hold more drills in the Baltic region [to defend against a possible aggression by Russia], Delfi internet portal quoted Rinkevics as saying Thursday.

“We need more soldiers, more drills and greater visibility. What we also need now is to make it clear to everyone that NATO will stay on as long as it takes and will do everything that needs to be done,” the minister added.

U.S. soldiers attend an opening ceremony of military exercise 'Saber Strike 2015', at the Gaiziunu Training Range in Pabrade some 60km.(38 miles) north of the capital Vilnius, Lithuania, Monday, June 8, 2015 - Sputnik International
Operation Saber-Strike: US-Led Military Drills Get Underway in Latvia
Latvia is scheduled in October and November to host Arrcade Fusion 2015, an exercise staged by the headquarters of the NATO Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC), the Latvian defense ministry said on September 29.

The military exercise, which has been held annually since the ARRC's formation in in the early 1990s, will test the headquarters' "ability to control simulated troop formations within a challenging and dynamic fictional security or humanitarian crisis," the ARRC said on its official website.

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