Baltic Countries against the US Troops Withdrawal from Europe

According to the Baltic countries foreign ministers, Washington should not reduce its military presence in Europe. This will have a greater effect on intimidating Russia. Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia jointly opposed the proposed withdrawal of American troops from Europe. Following a meeting in Tallinn with their German counterpart Heiko Maas on Monday 20 July, the three foreign ministers said that a greater US military presence in Europe would have a better effect in intimidating Russia. This is how they responded to the announcement made by US President Donald Trump on reducing the American military contingent in Germany by almost 10 thousand troops. “It’s not a secret: we definitely lack some skills,” Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevičius said, adding that the Baltic countries are looking forward for assistance from their allies and for a greater presence of American soldiers - but not at the expense of Germany. The heads of the defense departments of Latvia and Estonia Edgars Rinkevics and Urmas Reinsalu also made similar statements. Donald Trump justified the withdrawal of troops from Germany, among other things, by Berlin’s insufficient, from his point of view, defense spending. He intends to return one part of the contingent stationed in Germany to the United States, and another part to transfer to other European countries, in particular to Poland.