„Russia will persist as a long-term threat for the Euro-Atlantic security and the Baltic States in particular, therefore our solidarity must remain stronger than ever,“ said Minister of National Defence Laurynas Kasčiūnas meeting with Baltic counterparts Andris Sprūds of Latvia and Hanno Pevkur of Estonia.
The Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian ministers of defence underscored that assistance to Ukraine had to remain among top Baltic priorities and reiterated the minimum 0.25% of GDP commitment to Ukraine’s security and defence. The Baltic States will remain active participants of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group through the Ramstein Format capability coalitions, including for demining, IT and UAV assistance.
Minister also fine-tuned the key objectives ahead of the upcoming NATO Summit in Washington, which, besides the commitment to spend at least 2.5% of GDP on defence and strengthen critical capabilities, also include some of the most important of all: implementation of the NATO regional defence plans and the Rotational NATO Air Defence Model.
„We have to cooperate more closely together to convince the allies to commit to focus on the most urgent capability gaps shortly. We aim to accelerate implementation of the Rotational NATO Air Defence Model agreed to in Vilnius a year ago. We are grateful to the Netherlands for the country’s decision to deploy the Patriot system for the exercise this summer in Lithuania and we look forward for it to become the beginning of the practical implementation of the Rotational Air Defence Model,“ said Minister of National Defence Kasčiūnas.
Ministers also had a unified view regarding the cooperation on the Baltic defence line which adds up to the NATO forward defence. The project has a particular meaning in the trilateral cooperation context, the countries are developing counter-mobility installations on the border with hostile states. Ministers expressed a view that joint procurement and exercises would facilitate cooperation in the framework of this important project.
Ministers of defence of the Baltic States agreed at the meeting in Palanga to muster up the efforts on maritime cooperation and to get the navies of NATO’s newest Allies, Sweden and Finland, involved as important contributors to the Baltic region security. Other points of agreement expressed at the meeting were seeking mutual interest in the area of advanced technologies, e.g. drones or UAV jamming equipment, etc. „We are learning the lessons from the war in Ukraine and we realize that conventional capabilities have to be complemented by new technologies,“ underscored Minister L. Kasčiūnas.
The ministers closed the meeting with a signature of Joint Communique on further defence cooperation.