EU – Baltic States, Security, USA

International Internet Magazine. Baltic States news & analytics Friday, 26.04.2024, 18:54

NATO to remain in Baltics until 2022

BC, Vilnius, 26.05.2017.Print version
ATO member states are likely to remain in the Baltic region until 2022, Polish President Andrzej Duda said after the NATO summit in Brussels on Thursday, according to Radio Poland citing LETA/BNS.

He said that the Alliance members confirmed their commitment to the Warsaw Summit agenda of continuing securing Central and Eastern Europe.


Duda said there were no objections from the Alliance member countries about the strengthening of NATO's eastern flank.


At the Warsaw summit last year, NATO members agreed to strengthen the Alliance's eastern flank by sending troops to Poland, Romania and the Baltic states in light of Russian aggression just beyond the borders of the European Union.


Duda said on Thursday that NATO allies had agreed to retain an enhanced presence in the Baltic region and Poland over the coming years.


Asked if this presence of NATO in Eastern Europe would continue after 2018, Duda said: "People are talking about 2022 rather than 2018… No one raised the issue of a pullout".


He added that he did not think that there will be a decrease in "mutual support" and a "withdrawal of troops from the Baltic states, Poland and Romania".


He added that plans and strategies to increase defense spending to 2.2% of GDP by 2020 and 2.5% of GDP by 2030 were presented to NATO and had been discussed with Polish Deputy Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.






Search site