German, Baltic States' Foreign Ministers Agree to Enhance Security Cooperation

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, German Minister of Foreign Affairs Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius and Estonian Deputy Minister for EU Affairs Matti Maasikas met in Riga and discussed a number of cooperation issues, including security policy challenges in Europe and other regions.

"The Ministers voiced their commitment to deepening cooperation in the field of security and defense through continued implementation of the decisions taken at the recent NATO summit in Warsaw. The Ministers underlined the importance of the Allies' decision to establish an enhanced forward presence in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland," the statement published on Latvian Foreign Ministry's website said.

The statement added that Germany's offer to become a framework nation for a multinational NATO battalion that would be deployed in Lithuania "significantly contributes" to the regional security.

NATO has been boosting its military presence in Europe, particularly in Eastern European states, since the outbreak of the Ukrainian crisis, citing Russia's alleged interference in that conflict as justification for the move.

At the NATO summit in Warsaw on July 8, the Alliance's secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said that the military bloc would strengthen its presence in Eastern Europe on a rotational basis with four battalions in Poland and in the Baltic nations. The United States will lead the troops in Poland, while the United Kingdom will head the battalion in Estonia, Germany the one in Lithuania, and Canada that in Latvia.