Latvia wants more inspectors on Russian bases and at exercises
Latvian minister of defense Raimonds Bergmanis couldn’t comment on Wednesday whether or not Latvian officials would continue to meet with Russian counterparts, but confirmed that they would like to have more observers at Russian military exercises.
The Baltic defense ministers signed a joint communiqué in Tallinn on Wednesday. The arrival of additional NATO units in the Baltic countries and Poland was the main topic of the ministers’ discussions, ETV’s “Aktuaalne Kaamera” newscast reported.
Latvian defense minister Raimonds Bergmanis said that the main part of NATO’s troops would arrive in Latvia in May next year. He could only be definite about the Canadian units involved, who took care of logistics and would arrive at the beginning of the year.
Bergmanis confirmed that the recent bilateral talks of Latvian and Russian defense officials had taken place within the framework of the Vienna Document, which sets out conditions for meetings discussing military matters among members of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the OSCE.
The talks had taken place on Dec. 8, Bergmanis said, and that he couldn’t comment on whether or not there would be more meetings in the future. All was based on the same format applied to the exchange with Estonia, for instance, the minister said.
The Latvians proposed at the meeting that Russia invite additional Latvian observers to their military exercises and bases.
“We are worried about the size of the exercises in Russia,” Bergmanis said. That is why they had requested to send more experts there to inspect Russia’s arms.
Editor: Editor: Dario Cavegn