The commander of the National Armed Forces of Latvia, Lieutenant General Leonid Kalnins, said that the republic does not need to deploy additional troops of the North Atlantic Alliance on its territory, writes EurAsia Daily.
The head of the NAF noted that the main attention of the Latvian military is currently focused on the border of Latvia and Belarus, in order to prevent a large-scale invasion of illegal migrants.
“We have provided optimal support, placed everything you need to instantly respond to any increase in migrants, we monitor the situation on a daily basis. All those measures taken by the EU, our Baltic neighbors and, of course, Poland, have led to the fact that we have really moved away from the need to start consultations provided for in Article 4 of the NATO Treaty”, Kalnins said on the air of LTV Rīta TV channel Panorāma.
Article 4 of the NATO Charter implies consultations of the members of the North Atlantic Alliance if, in the opinion of one of the parties, the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of the members of the organization is threatened. Earlier, the head of the Latvian Defense Ministry, Artis Pabriks, said that Riga could turn to the Alliance for help.