Other events in Baltic States

On January 3, change of command ceremony was held at the Baltic Naval Squadron (BALTRON) in Liepaja, Latvia. The current commander Lt Cdr (Lithuanian Navy) Andrius Sirvys handed over duties to Lt Cdr (Latvian Navy) Dmitrijs Jankovs, informs LETA/ELTA.

BALTRON staff will rotate as well. Lt (N) Egidijus Oleskevicius will represent Lithuania as BALTRON Chief of Staff, Lt (N) Egidijus Mickus as Staff Signal and Communications Systems Officer and CPO Tomas Donauskas as Staff Administrator. Last year BALTRON Staff also included Lithuanian Operations Officer – Lt (N) Klevas Tubis.

Mine countermeasures vessel KURSIS M54 of the Lithuanian Navy begins a half-year tour of duty in 2012 as well, the ship is under the command of Lt Cdr Tadas Jablonskis. It will replace command and supply ship JOTVINGIS N42 led by Lt (N) Vytautas Sakalys.

According to the BALTRON Activity Plan in 2012, its staff and ships will participate in BALTRON training events (Lithuania), trilateral Lithuania's, Latvia's and Estonia's exercise Baltic Fortress 2012 (Lithuania), multinational seafloor mine clearance exercise Open Spirit 2012 (Estonia), international exercise Baltops 2012 (central area of the Baltic Sea), international Baltic seafloor sweeping operation (Estonia), international military exercise Danex/Northern Coasts 2012 (Germany, Denmark) and BALTRON seafloor mine clearance operation (Latvia).

BALTRON was established in 1998, the unit is formed by international staff provided by Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

Tasks of BALTRON are the following: to conduct search and neutralization operations of mines and undetonated ammunition remaining in the Baltic Sea after World War I and World War II, and to strengthen security of the Baltic territorial sea and the exclusive economic zone of the Baltic states. The unit also serves as training platform before deployment with NATO units.