About 600 Swedish army soldiers will be heading to Latvia in a few months to join the North Atlantic Alliance's ground forces as part of a brigade led by Canada.
This was reported by URA-Inform with reference to Aftonbladet.
Latvian Defence Minister Andris Spruds called the event “historic” and said that the ties between Sweden and Latvia are already so close that it is almost impossible to get closer to each other, “but this adds a new, military dimension.”
We are talking about a reduced battalion of about 600 people, which has, among other things, 90 combat vehicles, motorized units, tanks and grenade launchers. The Swedish battalion will be part of a multinational brigade led by Canada.
«We must do everything that is required of us as a host nation. We are developing our infrastructure and, of course, infrastructure adapted for brigade-level exercises,» Spruds said.
He noted that Latvia spends three percent of its GDP on defense. Spruds also emphasized that the presence of Swedish soldiers strengthens the security of not only Latvia, but also the NATO defense alliance as a whole.
«We understand that we live in a world with great challenges. We must support Ukraine, we must deter and challenge Russia, which is an aggressive country, and together we must strengthen regional security and NATO,' the Latvian Defense Minister said in a statement.
It was also previously reported that Ukraine could join NATO with the occupied territories, Stoltenberg said.