On March 21-22 Chief of Defence of Latvia Lieutenant General Raimonds Graube and a delegation were on a formal visit in Lithuania. Today the guest met with Minister of National Defence Juozas Olekas, leadership of the Lithuanian Armed Forces and representatives of the Ministry of National Defence.
"Our principal goal at the NATO Summit in Warsaw is the enhancement of deterrence. We believe that it is crucial to take a firm and clear decision at the summit on the persistent military presence of allies in the region. "Unity and commitment to collective defence of the Alliance is what will hold Russia back," Minister J.Olekas said to the Latvian Chief of Defence.
The Chief of Defence of Latvia lauded close relations of Lithuanian and Latvian militaries and underscored that we could be strong in the face of a threat only in solidarity. The guest also invited to assess carefully the possibilities to use each other's military training areas thus providing better training conditions for both, own and rotating-in forces.
Minister J.Olekas and the Chief of Defence of Latvia discussed the role of the NATO Multinational Corps Northeast (MNC NE) in regional defence, development of a common mid-range anti-aircraft defence system in the region, potential joint acquisitions, and other topics of Latvian-Lithuanian security and defence cooperation.
"Chief of Defence of Latvia and I have discussed security situation in our region and information warfare threats. We have also presented to the Latvian Chief of Defence the capabilities and level of readiness of the Lithuanian Armed Forces, participation in international operations and exercises, and prospects of defence capability development and joint military training," Chief of Defence of Lithuania Lt Gen J.V.Žukas said after the meeting.
Other topics addressed at the meetings were further bilateral defence cooperation, prospective defence capability development at the Lithuanian Armed Forces, perspectives of the development of the Baltic Battalion, and the implementation of the NATO Readiness Action Plan: NATO exercises in Lithuania, rotating units of the allies' land forces, and duty in the NATO Response Force (NRF) and the European Union Battlegroups (EU BG).
Lithuanian and Latvian Chiefs of Defence paid tribute to the memory of Lithuanian freedom fighters by laying flowers at the memorial in Antakalnis Cemetery.
Credits: A. Pliadis
Video report by L. Kalvaitis https://youtu.be/90vnOTVJqfA
