As Latvia defends NATO’s eastern border, Ukraine peace talks test strength of the alliance / Article

Swedish ambassador to Latvia Karin Hölgund said Russia’s 2022 attack on Ukraine compelled her country to end its 200-years of nonalignment and join NATO, to be “on the right side of history.”

“I think the realization is very much sinking in Sweden that the defense of our country starts and kind of ends at the border, the Latvian-Russian border,” Hölgund said. “It’s not only the EU border, but it’s NATO’s border with an aggressor.”

Fourteen nations have brought their troops, intelligence and weapons to the NATO Multinational Brigade Latvia, with a pledge to defend NATO’s eastern border. Following 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. But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine increased the urgency, and the NATO Latvian battlegroup scaled up to a brigade in October 2024.

With 14 countries’ military contributions, the brigade now has amassed two combat teams, two units of tanks, an infantry battalion and a combat engineering unit. Latvian National Armed Forces Staff Sergeant Jorens Zile welcomed the brigade’s increased military capacities. But stressed that Latvia planned to expand its defensive capabilities, too.

“I am not afraid to be the first line, to be the first defender. I think it’s just in the nature of men to be the ones who protect their country, ” Zile said. “I know it’s my duty and I feel it in my bones, even if I weren’t in the army.”

U.S. forces do not play a leading role in Latvia, but take a leading role in Poland. Future U.S. policy in the region came into doubt when U.S. President Donald Trump in February asserted in tandem with the Kremlin that Ukraine started the war.

“The President of the United States is openly using Kremlin talking points,” said Jason Moyer, a foreign policy expert with the Washington-based Wilson Center 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, and that’s dangerous just from a misinformation standpoint.”

“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 US and whoever it is. We’re civil people. So, we expect civility to sort of be the name of the game.”

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 came as no surprise to many foreign policy experts. “Putin has said that the breakup of the Soviet Union is the greatest geopolitical catastrophe in the 20th century,” said Moyer. “He very much wants to rebuild the Russian Empire.”

Putin’s ambition to expand its borders motivated Latvia to invest in NATO and their own security. To bolster its defenses, Latvia also significantly increased its defence budget by 1% from 2024, allocating nearly 4% of its gross domestic product in 2025, one of the highest percentages in Europe.

The backbone of Latvia’s defense is the national guard, said Latvian National Armed Forces Colonel Māris Tūtins. In 2022, the government reinstated voluntary conscription for men and women aged 18 to 27, later making it mandatory for men.

The colonel proudly mentioned his 19-year-old daughter, who is currently undergoing training. “We are building a nation of arms,” he said. The goal – 50,000 new combat-ready individuals by 2027.

The NATO Multinational Brigade Latvia’s troops stay in different “shacks” all separated by nation, as Captain Daniel Pineda, the brigade’s public affairs officer called them. But back in 2017, the brigade didn’t even have a closed gymnasium — just an open tent with some work out equipment.

As the battalion scaled up, a brand new gymnasium facility was built at the base. The brigade’s international composition poses language challenges. “In my case, the Polish public affairs press officer, he only speaks Polish. So we communicate via text message then translate,” Pineda said. They do that on the fly with a translation app on their phones.

The brigade will be at full force next year. Canada aims to deploy 2,200 Canadian Armed Forces members by that time.

“What we are ready for is to deter the adversaries, to come in and to defend the Latvian land, if needed,” Pineda said.

The Kremlin has attempted to undermine the NATO force in Latvia through disinformation. Russian interference is not new for Latvia, as the government and military have fielded both from Russia and Belarus aimed at delegitimizing their defense and governance.

Jānis Sārts, director of NATO Strategic Communication Center of Excellence, works directly on disinformation campaigns. Russian bots on social media have accused Canadian soldiers of drinking too much in Latvia. In Lithuania, Russian propaganda accused German soldiers from NATO’s Enhanced Forward Presence of raping a 15-year-old girl. A criminal investigation dismantled these rumors.

“There are no borders in the information space,” Sārts said.

NATO has announced a new “Baltic Sentry” mission to patrol critical infrastructure in the region with maritime patrol aircraft, frigates and naval drones. Due to the hybrid nature of such attacks so far, it has been difficult for nations to truly crack down, as they want to avoid any excuse for escalation in an already tense environment.

Another way Russia has tried to destabilize its closest neighbors in the West is by trafficking migrants and sending them into Poland, Finland and Latvia, Tūtins said. Since 2021 Russia had offered migrants cheap flights to Belarus and directed them to cross into the EU via Latvia on foot, mostly at Latvia’s three-way border with Russia and Belarus, known as the Green border.

To deter migrants, Latvia built a long fence covered in barbed wire that will line the entire border.

Colonel Jūris Mazurs, deputy chief of the Terehova Border Crossing Point, said fears of Russian invasion have been part of Latvian life since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 . “We have always been neighbors with the aggressor, we are used to it,” he said, as he drove along the green border.

Mazurs hiked with reporters into the pine forest to see a large array of tank deterrents: hip-high pyramids made of concrete, steel i-beams shaped like enormous jacks called hedgehogs, motion-sensored cameras, multiple rows of concrete lego blocks and patrolling American-made 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. “It’s better to prepare better than not prepare at all. And if the others see that you’re more prepared, they will not try to do something, maybe those things are also deterrence,” he said.