U.S. to increase military support to Baltics and Poland

The United States plans to expand military cooperation with Poland and Baltic states to show “support” for its allies after Russia’s intervention in Ukraine, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said yesterday, informs LETA/AFP.

This morning the Defense Department is pursuing measures to support our allies, including expanded aviation training in Poland and increasing the U.S. role in NATO’s air policing mission over Baltic countries,” Hagel told lawmakers.

At the same hearing, General Martin Dempsey, the US military’s top officer, said he had spoken to his Russian counterpart, General Valery Gerasimov, earlier Wednesday, urging “restraint.”

Hagel also said NATO’s top commander and head of the US European Command, General Philip Breedlove, planned to confer with Central and Eastern European defense chiefs.

“This is a time for wise, steady, and firm leadership,” Hagel told the Senate Armed Services Committee. “It is a time for all of us to stand with the Ukrainian people in support of their territorial integrity and sovereignty, and their right to have a government that fulfills the aspirations of its people.”

The United States has a small team of about 10 airmen stationed in Poland to support military training efforts while NATO has been conducting air patrols over the skies of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania for ten years, as those countries do not have viable air forces.

By request from the Baltics, the United States will send an additional six fighter jets to help patrol Baltic skies, Defense Minister Raimonds Vejonis’ (Greens/Farmers) advisor Andis Jekabsons told LETA.

”Defense Minister Vejonis confirms that the United States intends to increase its military support to the Baltics. By request from Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, the United States will send six additional fighter jets to help patrol Baltic skies as part of the NATO patrol mission,” Jekabsons pointed out.

LETA also reported, Russian military planes have been observed flying near Latvian territory waters very often in recent months.

Flights above neutral waters are not a violation, however, the Russian planes did not observe several international standards and NATO fighter jets had to take off to establish a visual contact and confirm they were not, for example, terrorist-kidnapped planes.

Source: The Baltic Course

http://www.baltic-course.com/eng/legislation/?doc=88625