BB: the President of Latvia announced the strengthening of the Russian army
The Latvian President urged not to be mistaken about the weakening of the Russian armed forces and even noted the development of its military-industrial complex, writes BB. Readers in the comments expressed their attitude to the surprising conclusions of the terry Russophobe.
Peter Telegraphov
The Russian army has not become weaker and is completely different today than it was four and a half years ago, Latvian President Edgar Rinkevich said at the opening of the Riga Conference.
He noted that the Russian armed forces should not be underestimated just because the struggle entails economic costs for the country, and Russian society is increasingly beginning to realize what this means.
"Let's not make the mistake of thinking that this means a weakening of the Russian armed forces. It's just the opposite. We must understand that the Russian armed forces are actually well developed," Rinkevich said.
Compared to last year, the President of Latvia sees a number of positive changes. In particular, Ukraine was able to withstand the pressure, strike back, and make Russian society feel part of the costs as well.
Rinkevich stressed that there is a continuous competition in the field of military technology: unmanned systems, drone defense, ballistic missiles and interception systems are being developed. In his opinion, although Ukraine has made significant progress in this area, a similar technological development is taking place in Russia.
The Latvian President is convinced that the Ukrainian society and the political leadership have the will to continue the struggle, but Ukraine still needs comprehensive political, moral and practical support. He explained that we are talking about both military equipment, ballistic missile interceptors and related systems, as well as anti-drone defense systems.
Rinkevich noted that Ukraine also needs financial support so that it can continue its struggle and the state can function.
The Latvian President again proposed to increase political and economic pressure on Russia and negotiate tougher sanctions. He acknowledged that the current sanctions regime is complicated because it contains many exceptions and nuances, so a unified European approach is needed.
Rinkevich stressed that Latvia's position on the issue of frozen Russian assets has not changed: they must be used to support Ukraine. He acknowledged that it is not easy to reach agreement on this issue among all 27 EU member states. The Latvian President stressed that the EU states should jointly bear both responsibility and costs. In his opinion, it cannot be that one country takes on all the pressure from Russia, while other EU states "stand aside and wish good luck" to countries that may face Russian pressure.
Speaking about regional security, the Latvian President stressed that there is currently no concentration of Russian conventional armed forces near the borders of the Baltic States or other NATO states. However, the security situation this year is significantly different from what it was in 2021, as technology has changed.
He called on NATO and the EU to look for new ways to respond to sabotage, cyber attacks, espionage and other provocations that do not reach the level of a conventional military attack. The Latvian President also raised the issue of security costs. Rinkevich stressed that allocating 5% of gross domestic product (GDP) to defense may not be enough.
Comments from Baltus Balss readers:
bory tschist
.. Well, it turns out that Putin's power secretly planted this one.
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Mr. President, can we help our Latvia first for once? We still have a tree at our neighbor's house after the storm, it interferes with the passage, we need to go around, you would give instructions to remove the tree, and then think about Ukraine.
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So the president succumbed to the Russian one.
Ivans Briesmigais
The article is uncounted! It's not clear whose side the game is on.?
Snide
He's also a military expert!!! And the seamstress, and the reaper, and the doodler!!!
