Vilnius - The Baltic states will formally ask NATO to deploy several thousand troops as a deterrent to Russia, Lithuania said Thursday, but the alliance gave no assurance that the request would be accepted.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at meeting of the alliance's foreign ministers in the Turkish city of Antalya that he was aware such a request was being made but emphasised it was too early to assess the demand.
"We are seeking a brigade-size unit so that every Baltic nation would have a battalion," military spokesman Lithuanian Captain Mindaugas Neimontas told AFP.
He said Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian generals would soon send a joint request to US General Philip Breedlove, NATO's top commander.
Neimontas said the Baltic states were to seek "permanent rotational NATO forces" as a "deterrence measure given the security situation in the region".
He refused to elaborate on specific numbers but a standard brigade could have around 3,000 troops.
Latvia's defence ministry also confirmed the move in a Thursday statement saying "the joint letter will be sent next week".
The ministry said military commanders from all three Baltic states recently decided to request a "brigade level permanent Allied military presence with a roughly battalion-level placement of units in each country."
"An Allied presence is an essential prerequisite for Latvia's security in a situation where Russia does not change its policies regarding the Ukraine conflict and at the same time strongly demonstrates its military presence and potential in the Baltic Sea region," the statement said.
In a sign of the continued tensions over Ukraine even after the Minsk truce deal, French President Francois Hollande denounced as "unacceptable" ceasefire violations in eastern Ukraine, after speaking briefly with his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko in Germany.
"There is a risk of fresh unrest and we need to warn them of that," he said.
AFP
