Other events in Baltic States

NATO commanders have given the green-light for the creation of rapid-response force command and control centers in the Baltics and three other countries, National Armed Forces Commander Raimonds Graube confirmed to Latvian Radio, cites LETA.

According to the portal ''lsm.lv'', this means that a new unit will be set-up in Latvia, which will man and operate the new command and control center. This unit will be responsible for logistics and organizing exercises, as well as receiving rapid-response forces in crisis situations.

NATO already has a rapid-response force model in place, however, after Russia's aggression in Ukraine, as well as serious concerns expressed by the Baltics and other countries regarding security, NATO has agreed to establish the rapid-response force, which would quickly be able to deploy to any NATO member state which is under threat.

Thus, the alliance has agreed to the creation of six command and control centers in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria.

Graube told Latvian Radio that the cost of the creation of such a unit is still being calculated, and that a portion of the unit will also be made up of allied soldiers.

NATO commanders have agreed in principle for the creation of such command and control centers, but on February 5 the defense ministers of alliance members will have to sign off on them during a meeting. Latvia will be represented by Defense Minister Raimonds Vejonis (Greens/Farmers).

Meanwhile, NATO has detected signs of heightened Russian involvement in fighting in parts of eastern Ukraine, the alliance's top military commander said on Thursday. U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove, NATO's supreme allied commander Europe, said fighting in the pro-Russian separatist uprising was now more intense in some places than it was before September's Minsk ceasefire agreement. Breedlove told a news conference after a meeting of NATO defense chiefs that military leaders would try to re-establish contact with their Russian counterparts, broken off amid tensions over Ukraine, the Reuters news agency reports.