As an alliance member, Denmark already contributes around 200 troops to the NATO enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) Battlegroup at Tapa, Estonia, and the Latvia announcement came during Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen's visit to that country on Thursday, a day after she had been in Estonia, LSM's English-language portal reported.

During the press conference on Wednesday at Tapa, Estonia, Prime Minister Frederiksen said committing around 800 of her country's troops to the Baltic States, in addition to those already at Tapa, was "much more than an idea."

Latvian Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš called the development: "A very important decision – it clearly shows the whole world and Putin's regime in Russia that NATO is united not only in words but also in deeds, strengthening each other."

Denmark needs approval from the Folketing, its parliament, before the deployment can go ahead.

Latvia's eFP Battlegroup is Canadian-led and contains troops from around 10 participating nations (see infogram below).

The battalion-strength Danish unit will arrive in Ādaži  as early as next month, and will contain a main force of combat soldiers from the Gardehus Regiment (Slagelse) consisting of an armored infantry company, a mechanized infantry company plus staff and various specialist groups.

The latest intake of Danish troops to serve in Estonia recently arrived at Tapa; Denmark has been contributing a unit to the U.K.-led battlegroup, which is now just over five years old, on alternating years.

Lithuania's eFP is German-led, while the U.S. heads up the battlegroup in Poland.

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