Latvia Wants US Troops, And Is Ready To Pay For Them
The Baltic country is looking to open talks with the US about putting American boots on the ground in Latvia, a move that would surely make Moscow unhappy.
By Paul McLeary on July 09, 2020 at 2:49 PM
WASHINGTON: Latvia’s defense minister announced today his country is willing to house American troops if the Trump administration follows through on its decision to pull thousands of troops out of Germany, becoming the second NATO ally to ask for those troops to be housed within its borders.
“We are ready — and this is an official announcement — we are ready to invest to receive a certain amount of American troops on Latvian soil,†minister of defense and deputy prime minister, Artis Pabriks, said during a virtual event hosted by the Brookings Institution. The desired deployment would be the first large US basing effort in the Baltic nation.
“We are not trying to punish the Germans. We don’t want to compete [with them], but if it’s really inevitable then we are ready to receive you,†he added.
https://breakingdefense.com/2020/07/latvia-wants-us-troops-and-is-ready-to-pay-for-them/
