Lithuania and Latvia on Friday welcomed US President Donald Trump's announcement that he would send 5,000 US soldiers to Poland
"A stronger Allied presence in our region reinforces deterrence and contributes to the security of the Baltic States and all of Europe," Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda wrote on X.
His Latvian counterpart Edgars Rinkēvičs also stressed that Trump's decision "will strengthen the security of NATO’s eastern flank. At the same time, Europe must urgently step up its own defence capabilities."
Earlier Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski, who is at an alliance foreign ministers meeting in Helsingborg, Sweden, thanked US President Donald Trump, who posted on Thursday that he was sending an "additional" 5,000 troops to Poland. He based this on his good relationship with Poland’s right-wing conservative president, Karol Nawrocki.
Sikorksi referred to the deployment as a troop rotation, saying US troops in Poland "will be maintained more or less at previous levels."
Their comments follow similar ones made by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte as he arrived for a NATO foreign ministers meeting in Sweden.
“Of course, I very much welcome the announcement,” he said upon his arrival on Friday at the Swedish port city of Helsingborg.
Rutte stressed that efforts to reduce Europe's dependence on the United States for its security must continue, so Washington can focus on other priorities.
"What you will be seeing over the coming time is a step-by-step process where the Europeans step up more, which is really important," Rutte said.
Poland's neighbour Lithuania and Latvia border Russia and its ally Belarus. They see themselves threatened by Russia because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine four years ago.
In the context of the war in Ukraine, there have recently been several drone incidents in both countries.
