Description: In what was deemed as the most serious troop commitment to date, Sweden has sent up to 550 troops in Latvia to join a Canadian – led mission on NATO’s eastern flank. The battalion arrived in a port in Riga and was escorted by Swedish air force and Latvian navy forces. Sweden would enhance and strengthen NATO’s defense along the eastern flank and would add to the deterrence and defense capabilities of Latvia since the country borders Russia and Belarus on their eastern and southeastern parts of the border.
Impact: With the Ukraine – Russia war raging on, countries from the Eastern European bloc would further elevate military readiness and enhance defense capabilities. Sweden’s troop commitment should be one of many internal military reorganizations as Eastern Europe presents one of the key regions for EU and NATO allies. Eastern European countries such as Latvia would seek to fully leverage their membership status and request further foreign defense assistance all the while strengthening their domestic and national defense and military capabilities.