Canada boosting NATO military role as alliance eyes major strategic shift over Russia
Global News
Latvia's prime minister said the message to Russia amid its war in Ukraine is clear: 'We are dead serious about defending ourselves, so don’t even think about coming this way.'
Canada is boosting its role in NATO deterrence efforts in Latvia amid a major shift by the alliance to a more assertive defensive posture in the wake of Russian atrocities in Ukrainian cities of Bucha and Mariupol.
The message the alliance aims to send to Russia is clear, said Latvian Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš.
“We are dead serious about defending ourselves, so don’t even think about coming this way.”
Kariņš spoke alongside Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a press conference on Thursday afternoon that saw Trudeau announce one Canadian general officer and up to six staff officers will be heading to Latvia to support and contribute to the leadership of the NATO’s Multinational Division North.
The division is currently led by Denmark and supports defence planning for the Baltic member states, along with coordination of the activities by NATO’s Enhanced Forward Presence in Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Poland. NATO describes those battle groups as “robust and combat-ready forces.”
Canada leads the Enhanced Forward Presence battle group in Latvia.
The deployment comes as NATO leaders prepare to meet in Madrid, Spain, late next month. While there, they are expected to chart a more assertive defensive vision for the future of the alliance amid what Trudeau described as the “spectacularly poor” decision by Russia to invade Ukraine in February.
“We realize that we may, we do, have to reassess the risk posture and how much we need to stand together against potential Russian incursion and aggression and that is a conversation we are having towards Madrid and we will certainly be having in Madrid,” Trudeau said.
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