The Latvian Ministry of Defense will ask the state an additional 350 million euros due to the increase in the threat of national security, in particular, by Russia. This was stated by the head of the department Artis Pabriks, RIA Novosti reports.
Enlarge the defense budget in the Ministry of Defense wants in the example of neighboring countries. “And we also see that Estonia has allocated additional resources to its armed forces, as well as a bit of internal affairs in order to promote more rapid development of their armed forces,” Pabriks said.
In his opinion, those challenges that are facing the ministry, especially from Russia, “will not disappear overnight,” and therefore in the next few years to defense against external threats will need to spend an additional 350 million euros.
Earlier, Latvian Foreign Minister Edgar Rinkevich called on to strengthen the presence of NATO in Eastern Europe due to the number of Russian and Belarusian troops at the borders.
At the same time, the Prime Minister of Latvia called an unthinkable war between Russia and the North Atlantic Alliance. In his opinion, it would be the worst outcome in the current situation, but he is confident that NATO is ready for confrontation.