NATO battle group in Latvia is fully staffed
After Spain’s decision to join the NATO combat group in Latvia, the group became fully staffed. This, as Delfi reports, was stated by the Foreign Minister of Latvia, Edgars Rinkēvičs. The combat group is scheduled to deploy to Latvia in 2017.
"Now the battle group is fully staffed. The combat group led by Canada will include Canada, Albania, Italy, Spain, Slovenia and Poland. Latvian and Canadian colleagues are now working intensively with all these countries on solving the practical problems, but there are no more questions regarding the composition of the group,” he said.
Regarding Latvia’s concerns about the military maneuvers in Belarus planned by Russia, Rinkēvičs said that this issue was being discussed at the meeting of NATO foreign ministers.
The issue of conducting Zapad 2017 Russian military drills in Belarus was also discussed during this week's visit of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus to Latvia.
Reducing risks both in the framework of NATO and at the bilateral level is being discussed with Russia too, Rinkēvičs added.