Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the United States stands ready to defend the Baltic states – Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia – if necessary and to maintain a military presence in the region.
“We are committed to Article 5, you can be sure of that,” Austin said, speaking in Tallinn after talks with Estonian leaders. He added that the United States would continue to maintain a “permanent and rotating” military presence in the region.
“The United States remains firmly committed to the freedom and sovereignty of our Baltic allies,” the Pentagon chief said.
Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said his country was “working to prevent” an attack on him unless Russia was stopped in Ukraine.
“Containment is the key word here. This is why NATO is developing new regional defense plans, which I hope will be approved at the NATO summit in Vilnius in July,” he said.
Recall that since 2019, the United States has been deploying about 500 military personnel in Lithuania and in December announced the deployment of a platoon of HIMARS missile systems and an infantry company in Estonia.
Since 2017, the North Atlantic Alliance has deployed three multinational battalions to each of the Baltic states. This was done in order to ensure a permanent troop presence on a rotational basis to ensure a rapid response before a larger force was called upon in the event of a Russian invasion of NATO territory.
Germany has pledged to provide reinforcements within 10 days in the event of an invasion threat.
Speaking in the Estonian capital, Austin confirmed that the United States would provide Ukraine with military equipment and said he expected Russia to suffer further significant losses among the “ill-equipped” military. and badly trained.
“This fight will evolve and we will do our best to work together to give (Ukraine) the means to succeed,” Austin said. “As to whether we can get the equipment in a timely manner, that’s something we work on every day.”
