Latvia 'ready to react' to hybrid war threat

Take note – story published 9 years ago

Two days of informal talks between European Union defense ministers wound up Thursday with Latvian Defense Minister Raimonds Vejonis underlining the need for Europe to deal effectively with the threat of "hybrid" warfare.

"At the moment we do not see such threats in Latvia and the probability of these threats is very low, but it's clear that the political leadership in Russia is quite unpredictable and we have to be ready to react to different scenarios," Vejonis said.

"It's clear that NATO and EU member states are aware of the role of Russia in destabliizing the security environment in Europe and we are aware that Russia could use both conventional measures as well as elements of hybrid warfare.

"I can reaffirm that the EU and NATO will not be taken by surprise if Russia decides to initiate something like that - we are ready and we will be ready to react," Vejonis said.

The EU's 28 member states also needed to decide what use to make of its 18 rapid reaction "Battlegroups", two of which are on permanent standby, which have existed on paper since 2007 but have yet to see any military action, Vejonis said.

Raimonds Vejonis on EU Battlegroups
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"We must decide in Europe how we will use EU battle groups. If we decide there is a future for EU battle groups [we need to decide] the places where they could be involved... but anyway we need political will, financial and military support from all EU countries," he concluded.

 

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