On October 8 at the NATO Defence Ministerial in Brussel British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon announced that the United Kingdom would join the US-German Transatlantic Capability Enhancement and Training (TACET) initiative by rotating military units into the Baltic states. It has been announced that the rotating military units will be stationed into the Baltics for an indefinite period of time.
Minister Juozas Olekas also underscored the need to agree further NATO assurance measures, including enhanced Air Policing Mission in the Baltic States, at the upcoming NATO Summit in Warsaw.
"Present-day security challenges demonstrate that the Alliance is encircled by threats and conflicts from North-Eastern to Southern Europe. The reasons behind this destabilisation can be traced back to Russia in one way of another. That is why NATO has to take an adequate view and take the changed situation seriously. We have to agree on long-term sustained and persistent NATO deterrence measures," Minister J.Olekas said.
NATO Defence Ministers also discussed the proposal to slow down the withdrawal of allied forces from Afghanistan, while specific decisions concerning the future of the NATO operation in Afghanistan will be taken in the end of the year.
While in Brussels, Defence Ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania signed an agreement on sharing costs of the Host Nation Support (HNS) for the NATO Air Policing Mission in the Baltic states in a trilateral session.
