NATO will adopt new deterrence strategy against Russia to limit its aggression towards the Alliance
Leaders of NATO member states agreed to formulate common NATO strategy during NATO Summit in Washington, D.C. Its aim will be to ensure more efficient long-term deterrence of Russia and limit its aggression towards Allies.
“Alliance is committed to further strengthen its deterrence and defence posture. We are preparing for all possible scenarios. Our capability development plans are based on all potential threat scenarios. NATO member states agree that Russia is and will continue to be the long-term threat to Alliance in all domains – on land, sea, air and digital domain. Moreover, Russia is firmly fixed on turning up its aggressive hybrid activities,” Defence Minister Andris Sprūds underlined.
NATO member states also agreed to provide Ukraine military assistance in the amount of €40 million over the next 12 months to help it fight the full-scale military aggression from Russia. Leaders of the Alliance also decided to give NATO greater coordinating role when it comes to Ukraine military assistance and training programmes, shifting the responsibility from previous coordinator – coalition led by the United States of America.
Based on the lessons learned from War in Ukraine, heads of NATO states and governments also came to consensus that member states of the Alliance must invest even more than 2% of their GDP in defence, prioritising investments into development of combat capabilities, such as long-range missile systems, air defence systems and stock-piling of ammunition these systems require.
According to Washington Summit Declaration, NATO will reinforce air defence of the Alliance’s eastern flank through more intense air policing rotations whereby additional land-based systems will support event greater presence of policing fighter jets in the NATO’s Eastern Flank and the Baltics.
“During the Summit we agreed that rapid deployment of these systems will be supported by NATO Industrial Capacity Expansion Pledge, which is designed to enhance Alliance’s ability to quickly and efficiently procure, either individually or jointly, the necessary resources and thus activate national defence industries across the Alliance,” Minister Sprūds explained.
Meeting with NATO’s Pacific partners focused on China’s growing influence on global and European security. “China is the source of several challenges to the Alliance, and its support to Russia is a crucial factor. Like Russia, China is proficient at utilising hybrid attacks and misinformation to undermine the rules-based international order,” Defence Minister concluded.
As reported earlier, Latvia and nine other NATO countries used the Washington Summit to sign a Letter of Intent on naval mine cooperation in the Baltic Sea region. The aim of the Letter of Intent is to strengthen regional cooperation in the field of naval mine laying, including joint procurement of naval mines, logistics, data exchange, training and continuous development of naval mine capabilities.
Meanwhile member states of the Drone Coalition signed memorandum of understanding on coordination of cooperation, development and application of drone technologies in Ukraine and towards strengthening of member state defence capabilities during the NATO Washington Summit.
Countries of the Drone Coalition have already made major contribution to Ukraine’s army by supplying the drones. Latvia allocated €20 million for Drone Coalition this year. Manufacturers and army experts can also test their drones in Latvia and thus work on drone technology upgrades uninterruptedly.
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