The Diplomat
Spain announced yesterday, a month before the start of the NATO summit in Madrid, that it will send a battery of anti-aircraft missiles to Latvia across the border from Russia, along with around 100 military personnel.
Coinciding with the celebration of Armed Forces Day, the Minister of Defence, Margarita Robles, told TVE about the deployment of the aforementioned weapons and the increase in the number of Spanish military personnel on NATO’s deterrence mission in Latvia to a total of 600.
Robles, who stressed Spain’s “total commitment” to NATO “for peace, freedom and security”, recalled that Spain currently has troops in Latvia and Lithuania, as well as ships in the Mediterranean, participating in what she said was “a task of deterrence and prevention of violence”.
Spain began its deployment in Latvia in 2017 with some 350 troops dedicated to deterring the Russian threat. This contingent was increased to 500 troops last March following the invasion of Ukraine as part of the Alliance’s plans to reinforce its eastern flank.
This Atlantic Alliance operation was designed to maintain a permanent presence in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland as a deterrence and defence measure. The objective, as defined by NATO, was “to prevent potential conflict, protect allies and preserve peace and stability beyond the Alliance’s borders”.
Enhanced Forward Presence’ is defensive in nature, multinational in nature, based on voluntary national contributions, interoperable and capable of deploying to the Baltic States and Poland.
The decision was adopted at the Warsaw Summit in 2016 and in June 2017 deployments began, totalling 4,000 military personnel divided into four Multinational Tactical Battle Groups (BG) in the Baltic States and Poland.
Spain is part of the Latvian Battle Group, which is located at the Adazi base, north of Riga. It is led by Canada and includes military personnel from seven other nations: Albania, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Italy, Montenegro and Poland.
In terms of equipment, the Latvian mission is the only one in which the Armed Forces have the ‘Pizarro’ and ‘Leopard’ battle tanks, as well as 120 mm heavy mortars, ‘Spike’ anti-tank missiles, drones, an air strike control team and precision marksmen. The additional deployment of 150 military personnel was artillery, sappers and logistical support.
Spain also contributes positions in the Battle Group headquarters, including the second-in-command of the Battle Group, which is headed by an infantry commander. It also contributes three military personnel to the Latvian Brigade Headquarters.
