Canada pressed to take on extra NATO defence role in Baltics
"Artis Pabriks, who is also Latvia’s Defence Minister, was in Ottawa Wednesday for meetings with Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and Defence Minister Anita Anand"
"Mr. Pabriks said he’s pitched Canada on taking on a second role: joining the command of NATO’s Multinational Division North,..."
“We would like that Canadians join. We trust Canadians,” he said, adding that, ideally, Canada’s military would take on a co-leadership role. He said this commitment would require posting a Canadian general in Riga.
Spokesperson Daniel Minden said: “
Canada will be contributing to the Multinational Division North and is currently considering what that contribution would look like.”
Asked about Canada’s defence spending record, Mr. Pabriks said
he would not want to criticize Ottawa because his country is extremely grateful for Canadian battle group leadership in Latvia. “
On the other hand, if you are a NATO member,
we should be ready to spend more.” Latvia has hiked defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP.
Latvia’s Defence Minister Artis Pabriks met Chrystia Freeland and Anita Anand in Ottawa as allies map out their response to Russia’s military assault on Ukraine
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