RIGA, Latvia (AN) – Carrying NATO and Swedish flags, 550 Swedish soldiers marched out of a ship at Riga Port, followed by combat vehicles with grenade launchers and armored troop carriers. The troops joined NATO's multinational brigade in Latvia earlier this year, swelling its ranks to 3,000.
Swedish ambassador to Latvia Karin Hölgund said Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in Feb. 2022 compelled her country to end its 200 years of nonalignment and join NATO so it would be "on the right side of history."
"The realization is very much sinking in (for) Sweden that the defense of our country starts and kind of ends at the border – the Latvian-Russian border," Hölgund said in an interview. "It's not only the E.U. border, but it's NATO's border with an aggressor."
Fourteen nations brought their troops, intelligence and weapons to NATO's multinational brigade in Latvia, pledging to defend NATO's eastern border. After Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, NATO created several combat-ready multinational forces in the Baltics and Poland, all with the goal of protecting Europe and deterring any Russian attack.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine added to the urgency, and NATO's Latvian battlegroup scaled up to a brigade in Oct. 2024. With the 14 countries' military contributions, the brigade expanded to include two combat teams, two units of tanks, an infantry battalion, and a combat engineering unit.
Latvian National Armed Forces Staff Sgt. Jorens Zile welcomed the brigade’s increased capacities but stressed that Latvia planned to expand its own defenses, too, especially as Russia inches towards Europe.
"I am not afraid to be the first line, to be the first defender," Zile said. "I know it's my duty and I feel it in my bones, even if I weren't in the army."
The strain of U.S.-Russia peace talks over Ukraine
American forces do not play a large role in Latvia, but take a leading role in Poland. The U.S. nuclear arsenal is a primary deterrent against Russia's expansionist ambitions by ensuring a credible threat of retaliation.
Decades of traditional European assumptions about the U.S. military role were thrown into severe doubt in February when U.S. President Donald Trump parroted the Kremlin's assertion that Ukraine began the war.
The Trump administration also opposed describing Russia as the aggressor in a Group of Seven statement that condemned the war and in a U.N. General Assembly resolution that supported Ukraine's independence.
That added to Europe's anxiety over whether Trump will honor a bedrock agreement, NATO's Article 5, that commits the military alliance's members to collective defense. The U.S. is the mainstay of NATO deterrence.
"The president of the United States is openly using Kremlin talking points," said Jason Moyer, a foreign policy expert specializing in transatlantic relations and security with the Wilson Center, a Washington think tank.
"We are going to now have a very dangerous situation where some people in the United States are going to think that Zelenskyy started the war," he said, "and that's dangerous just from a misinformation standpoint."
That also alarmed Europe, particularly as the Trump administration tried to broker an end to the war. The U.S. negotiated directly with Russia but sometimes froze Ukraine and its European allies out of the peace process.
"It raises concern when you hear things coming out from Washington that sort of seem to be threatening that unity and solidarity," Höglund said. "We are also proud nations that don't want to be stepped over. We want to be treated with the same respect as we treat the U.S. and whoever it is. We're civil people. So, we expect civility to sort of be the name of the game."
Russia’s 2022 attack came as no surprise to foreign policy experts like Moyer, who pointed to Putin's remarks that the breakup of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe in the 20th century. "He very much wants to rebuild the Russian Empire," Moyer said.
Putin’s ambition to expand Russia's borders motivated Latvia to invest more in NATO and its own national security. Latvia allocated nearly $1.8 billion or 3.65% of this year's GDP to its defense budget, well above NATO's 2% guideline and one of the highest percentages in Europe.
The backbone of Latvia's defense is its national guard, said Latvian National Armed Forces Col. Maris Tūtins. In 2022, voluntary conscription was reinstated for men and women aged 18 to 27. Tūtins proudly noted his 19-year-old daughter was in training. "We are building a nation of arms," he said. The goal: 50,000 new combat-ready conscripts by 2027.
NATO's multinational brigade is separated by nationalities to be housed in "shacks," as Capt. Daniel Pineda, the brigade’s public affairs officer, called them. Until recently, the brigade used an open tent as a gym.
"You'd have to run a few laps, get warm, heat the bar, and then you get ready to 'chest,' because if not, you'd get frostbite on your hands," Pineda said, adding that a gym was finally built as the base scaled up.
The brigade’s international composition poses language challenges; sometimes a translation app on a smartphone is used on the fly. "The Polish public affairs press officer, he only speaks Polish. So we communicate via text message then translate," Pineda said.
The brigade will be at full force next year when 2,200 Canadian military members are expected. "What we are ready for is to deter the adversaries, to come in and to defend the Latvian land if needed," Pineda said.
'No borders in the information space'
The Kremlin has attempted to undermine NATO's force in Latvia through disinformation. Russian interference is not new for Latvia, where the government and military have contended with efforts by both Russia and Belarus to delegitimize Latvia's defense and governance.
Russian propaganda campaigns have been blamed for spreading disinformation in Latvia falsely accusing Canadian troops of staying in taxpayer-paid luxury apartments, littering, and buying lots of beer during NATO exercises, and for spreading disinformation in Lithuania falsely accusing German soldiers of rape during a NATO mission to deter Russia.
"There are no borders in the information space," said Jānis Sārts, director of the NATO Strategic Communications Center of Excellence, who works directly on disinformation campaigns.
The Kremlin's aggressions are not limited to cyberspace but also affect infrastructure. Several incidents of damage to undersea cables in the Baltic Sea have raised concerns about Russian sabotage, with some incidents involving Russian-flagged vessels or vessels with Russian crews.
This could damage economic activity, gas pipelines, cellular service, or electricity supply in a targeted country. Globally, more than 600 fiber-optic undersea cables form the backbone of the internet, transmitting around 95% of all the data shared among continents.
Due to the hybrid nature of the attacks, it is difficult for nations to crack down. Eight nations joined with NATO and the European Commission in deploying a new military campaign earlier this year that uses maritime patrol aircraft, frigates, and naval drones to protect the Baltic's energy and communication cables. The "Baltic Sentry" campaign aims to find new ways to surveill cables and track suspicious vessels.
Russia also has tried to destabilize its closest neighbors in the West by trafficking migrants to Poland, Finland and Latvia, Tūtins said. Since 2021, he said, Russia has offered migrants cheap flights to Belarus and directed them to cross into the European Union via Latvia on foot, mostly at Latvia’s three-way border with Russia and Belarus, known as the 'Green' border.
'Neighbors with the aggressor'
To deter migrants, Latvia built a long fence covered in barbed wire to line the entire border. If Russia were to invade, its troops would likely be sent through this vulnerable area, according to Latvian and NATO officials.
Col. Jūris Mazurs, deputy chief of Latvia's Terehova border crossing point, said fears of a Russian invasion have been part of daily life since Latvia gained independence in 1991. "We have always been neighbors with the aggressor, we are used to it," he said as he drove along the Green border.
Experts have disagreed about where Putin might strike next. Some have speculated it might be in the Baltics; others predicted more attacks in Ukraine. Mazurs said NATO's presence could help Latvia.
On a hike with reporters in a snow-covered pine forest, Mazurs pointed to an array of tank deterrents: hip-high concrete pyramids, steel I-beams shaped like enormous jacks called hedgehogs, motion-sensored cameras, multiple rows of concrete lego blocks, and patrolling U.S. vehicles.
"Of course, there usually could be some risks, but we are trying to prepare as best we can, even when you see those anti-mobility measures," said Mazurs. "And if the others see that you're more prepared, they will not try to do something. Maybe those things are also deterrence."
This article, first published by Latvian public broadcaster LSM+, has been edited and republished with permission from LSM+ and the authors.
