Latvian President: NATO Troops Needed in Baltics Permanently to Defend Against Russia

A permanent NATO military base in Latvia and a strengthened presence in the organization’s eastern flank is "absolutely" needed in order to protect the area against Russia, Latvian President Egils Levits told CNN’s "State of the Union" on Sunday.

Asked if the U.S. announcement that it was sending more troops and some fighter jets to the country would help defend it against Russia, Levits replied, "Absolutely. NATO should strengthen the NATO eastern flank. That’s the Baltics, Poland, Romania, so that this would be a strong signal to Moscow that NATO is ready to defend the member states."

Levits stressed that "we should defend our way of life, our democracies, and this is a question for the confidence to the West. It is an exam for the West. It is an exam for the American leadership. And I'm sure that America and the West as a whole, they'll pass this exam."

He added that "I welcome also the American troops in Poland and Baltics, and we need a permanent presence of American troops in this area. I think it is a response to Russian ideas on aggression beyond Ukraine."

Asked if he was concerned that Putin would next target Latvia, Levits emphasized that "Latvia is member of NATO. And NATO is the strongest military alliance in the world; 800 million people live in NATO states. And NATO has the biggest military potential in the world, much bigger [than] Russia."

Levits pointed out that "we know that the aggression against Ukraine is not only aggression against a state, but, at the same time, aggression against the West, against the Western values. And Ukraine is now fighting, fighting for Western values." 

Last week, after talks with Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkēvič, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken signaled openness to the discussion about permanent bases but said no decisions had been made, The Hill reported.

"When it comes to questions such as permanent basing, these questions come up and we’ll certainly look to answer them in the context of doing the review of our posture. But just to be very clear, no, there’s no decision of that kind," he said.

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