Tallinn (dpa) – While on a visit to Estonia, Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz reiterated Germany’s commitment to defending its NATO partners in the Baltic in the case of an attack. “To be absolutely clear: we are prepared to defend every last square centimetre of NATO territory against attacks,” Scholz said after meeting his fellow leaders, Kaja Kallas from Estonia, Krisjanis Karins from Latvia, and Ingrida Simonyte from Lithuania. “And I mean exactly what I say,” Scholz stressed.
“The security situation here in the Baltic, NATO’s eastern flank, remains delicate,” said Scholz, stressing that the necessary steps had been taken. “We are systematically aligning the Federal Armed Forces towards defending Central and North-Eastern Europe,” Scholz said. “By strengthening the defence of our allies, we are boosting security for the whole alliance and therefore for the whole of Europe.”Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia have been NATO members since 2004. The three Baltic states have borders with Russia, also share some stretches of border with Russia’s ally Belarus.
Speaking in Berlin, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius announced that the Federal Armed Forces would help protect the upcoming NATO summit in Lithuania and was relocating Patriot air defence systems from Slovakia for this purpose. The summit meeting for leaders of the military alliance is taking place in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius in July.
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