Prime Minister Mark Carney has introduced that Canada will preserve troops in Latvia by to 2029, as a part of a mission to discourage Russian aggression in Europe that has given Ottawa an outsized function within the transatlantic alliance.
“We should deter and fortify. And that’s the manner that we are able to present true reassurance,” Carney mentioned at a Tuesday information convention in Riga, flanked by Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina.
Carney’s workplace says there at the moment are 2,000 Canadian Armed Forces troops in Latvia as a part of Operation Reassurance, which is Canada’s largest abroad mission. Canadian troops have been there since 2017 to strengthen the defence of Europe’s jap flank and to discourage Russian from invading Baltic nations, by what many name a “journey wire.”
The present authority for the mission ends in March 2026, however Carney says he plans to increase that by one other three years.
“We’ll within the course of enhance the brigade’s capabilities right here in Latvia, reinforce our collective defence, strengthen our co-operative safety, and preserve the NATO presence robust,” Carney mentioned.
Canada is co-ordinating the function of troopers from roughly 10 nations in Latvia, to shore up the nation’s defences and to coach Latvian troopers, in accordance with Carleton College professor Stephen Saideman.
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“We’re punching above our weight,” he mentioned in an interview. “We’re mainly being handled by the remainder of NATO as equal to the U.Okay. and Germany,” who’re co-ordinating comparable multinational brigades in Estonia and Lithuania respectively.
Ottawa goals to have a full cadre of two,200 persistently deployed Canadian troops in Latvia someday in 2026, and has been constructing new infrastructure on the Adazi base close to Riga prior to now two years to make up for overcrowding.
Canada often has the complete presence of two,200 troops for particular workouts, Saideman mentioned.
He mentioned Carney’s go to is probably going meant “to assist educate Canadians about this main dedication” and to place a face on the increase to defence spending that’s coming the expense of different providers for Canadians.
“He is perhaps going there to point out to Canada the place the cash goes, and why the cash is important,” he mentioned.
Saideman added that the mission is especially complicated as France would have seemingly led the mission, and Canada is as a substitute working a mission with smaller contingents from many nations, which requires extra work to co-ordinate.
“We’re doing a complete lot that doesn’t essentially get acknowledged again in Canada,” he mentioned.
The mission began after Russia’s 2014 invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea, and has taken on elevated significance since Moscow’s February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Earlier Tuesday, Carney mentioned in Berlin that Russian President Vladimir Putin is afraid to take a seat down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, after U.S. President Donald Trump mentioned the 2 ought to discuss straight on finish the battle.
“We see President Putin placing circumstances and circumstances, and stalling and stalling, and being afraid of getting this assembly,” Carney mentioned.
Marcus Kolga, a senior fellow with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, mentioned Canada’s mission in Latvia is a significant contribution.
“It’s in all probability probably the most vital worldwide missions that we’ve been engaged in because the liberation of the Netherlands in World Battle II,” he mentioned.
“It permits them to go on residing their lives usually, despite the fact that that risk is true at their doorstep,” he mentioned, including this is applicable to Latvians in addition to neighbouring Estonians and Lithuanians.
“It demonstrates that Canada is lively, and it gained’t be pushed round by Vladimir Putin,” he mentioned.
International Affairs Canada’s profile on Latvia says each nations “share a detailed relationship grounded in shared elementary values, akin to assist for democracy, human rights and the rules-based worldwide order.”
Latvia has deep scars over violence meted out on the inhabitants each in the course of the Nazi occupation and through Latvia’s time as a part of the Soviet Union.
—With recordsdata from Dylan Robertson in Ottawa
© 2025 The Canadian Press
