The Canadian-led expanded battle group in Latvia will be expanded to a multinational brigade. The brigade is expected to be fully operational by 2026 and will have regarding 3,500 allied soldiers. At the same time, allied soldiers are present in Latvia as part of other operations, so the total number of NATO troops in Latvia will reach 5,000 in the next two years, the minister said.
On Wednesday, a ceremony was held at the Adazi military base, marking the start of increasing NATO’s enhanced presence in Latvia to brigade level.
In an interview, Spruds noted that Latvia has become the first Baltic country where a multinational brigade of the alliance will be created.
The brigade’s main deployment location will be the Adazi military base, its headquarters will be in Ceri, Marupe County, and major exercises will be held at the training ground in Selja.
The Commander of NATO Multinational Division North, Major General Jette Albinus, stressed at a ceremony at the Ādaži base on Wednesday that this is an important day when representatives of 14 NATO countries will begin arriving in Latvia. “This is a signal that we are united, ready for any challenges, including aggression from another country,” the Major General emphasized.
Commander of the NATO Multinational Brigade in Latvia, Colonel Cedric Aspiro, noted that today’s ceremony was the result of two years of preparation. “We have very professional soldiers here who are equipped with everything they need, and this is a very clear signal. It is a great honor for me to be here on this important day,” Aspiro emphasized.
Today’s ceremony will begin one of the stages of the battlegroup’s expansion. In the coming months, Latvia and NATO allies will take the next steps to transform the battlegroup into a combat-ready brigade.
At the NATO Summit in Madrid in June 2022, Latvia and Canada signed a declaration on strengthening and further developing the Enhanced Presence Battlegroup in Latvia, and in July last year, before the NATO Summit in Vilnius, the Defence Ministers of Latvia and Canada signed a roadmap at the Adazi military base, outlining further steps to transform the battlegroup into a brigade.
Colonel Cedric Aspiro will lead the formation of the brigade and the arrival and integration of other combat groups into it.
The Canadian-led NATO Enhanced Presence battlegroup currently includes around 1,900 troops on rotation from Albania, Canada, the Czech Republic, Iceland, Italy, Montenegro, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and North Macedonia. Denmark and Sweden will also be part of NATO’s new multinational brigade in Latvia.
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2024-07-04 05:35:09
