(OTTAWA) Ottawa is discussing with allies the possibility of bolstering a Canadian-led combat unit in Latvia, as NATO moves to bolster its eastern front with Russia.
Posted at 3:51 p.m.
Latvia’s ambassador to Canada revealed the nature of the talks in an interview with The Canadian Press on Monday, as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau prepares to attend the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Madrid ( NATO), where Russia and its invasion of Ukraine will be the focus.
Ambassador Kaspars Ozolins said on Monday the goal was to add more soldiers and capabilities to the 2,000-strong battle group that Canada has been leading in Latvia since 2017, to deter Moscow from further aggression in the region.
The battlegroup in Latvia is one of four NATO battlegroups created in 2017 in the Baltic countries and Poland. Germany leads a battlegroup in Lithuania, the United Kingdom commands another in Estonia, and the United States leads a battlegroup in Poland.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg confirmed on Monday that the four battlegroups will be upgraded to “brigade” level, which means doubling the number of troops assigned to each.
Germany and Britain have both recently said they are ready to lead larger combat units in Lithuania and Estonia. Ambassador Ozolins therefore hopes that Canada will announce something similar at the NATO summit in Spain this week.