The Diplomat
Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkēvičs yesterday in Madrid, in the midst of the armed conflict in Eastern Europe, showed his country’s support for the Spanish proposal to strengthen NATO’s southern flank.
During the meeting, held at the Palacio de Viana in Madrid, the two ministers agreed on the need for NATO to stand firm in the defense of the eastern flank of the alliance to contain Russian President Vladimir Putin and to avoid the “spill-over” of the war to other countries, especially after the latest events in the separatist region of Transnistria, in Moldova.
“I am very concerned about what is happening in Transnistria”, declared the Latvian minister, who assured that the explosions registered in the last hours are reminiscent of some incidents that occurred in the Ukrainian region of Donbas and that served as a “pretext” for the Russian invasion of last February 24. In any case, he warned, it would be “irresponsible to denounce it before we have the details.”
Likewise, Rinkēvičs thanked Spain for the contingent deployed in his country to protect the eastern flank (Spain maintains since 2007 a contingent of the Army in the framework of NATO, “a deployment of more than 500 soldiers with tanks”, recalled yesterday Albares), but he also agreed with Spain’s request that at the next summit of the Atlantic Alliance, scheduled for the end of June in Madrid, more attention should be paid to the protection of the southern flank because of the presence of Russian Wagner mercenaries in the Sahel and China’s expansion on the African continent.
For his part, Albares declined to provide details on the possible shipment of heavy weaponry to Ukraine by Spain. “If we want to help Ukraine, details about the arrival and type of weaponry are out of place. We are talking about a war, in which most of the victims are civilians,” he warned. “Airing such details, which I understand may be of interest, do nothing to help Ukraine defend its sovereignty and independence or protect civilians,” he added.
Albares also stressed that “this unjust war is highlighting that propaganda and false information put democracies at risk” and, for this reason, “Spain has applied to join the StratCom CEO in Riga,” NATO’s Hybrid Warfare Center from which propaganda and cyberwarfare is fought. “Today more than ever, the 360-degree NATO, the one that will be developed in eight weeks in Madrid and that will be embodied in the Strategic Concept, has to take into account all fronts, not only the eastern one, also the ‘southern flank’ and hybrid threats have to be present,” he said.
The Latvian minister was also received yesterday by the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, whom he thanked for Spain’s contribution to the Baltic Air Police in Lithuania and the presence in the NATO mission in Latvia, as well as the Spanish decision to increase the number of soldiers. Rinkēvičs stressed the need for the Madrid Summit to approve a permanent deployment of Alliance forces in the States.
