The Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, warned this Monday from the Adazi base in Latvia, 120 kilometers from the Russian border, that “it is essential” not to let our guard down and continue supporting Ukraine: “We cannot forget” because the situation is “very serious,” he said.
Robles arrived in Latvia this morning to visit the Spanish soldiers who are part of the multinational battalion that NATO has deployed near the border as an instrument of deterrence against Russia, a contingent of 622 troops whom he thanked for their work. developing.
“Where there is a Spanish soldier we are closer to peace,” the minister stressed.
Spain has participated since 2017 in this mission, called Reinforced Advanced Presence, and is the second country that contributes the most personnel, although the first in combat power.
The Spanish military is part of the Latvian Battle Group, led by Canada, which is based in Adazi, 25 kilometers from Riga, the Latvian capital, and 120 from the Russian border.
The number of troops has been growing from the 350 soldiers initially deployed to the current 622. The largest increase (200 soldiers) occurred after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In two weeks they return to Spain and will be relieved by a contingent also of more than 600 troops.
In addition, Spain is going to deploy another 600 soldiers in Slovakia starting next January 1, an operation that Robles has justified due to the current moment, in which peace is greatly threatened.
Before moving to the Adazi base, Robles held a meeting in Riga with his Latvian counterpart, Andris Sprüds, with whom he agreed on the importance of continuing to support Ukraine.
Despite the fact that the Ukrainian conflict is increasingly less present in the media and public opinion, Robles wanted to draw attention. He has stressed that hand-to-hand combat continues to occur and the number of casualties is very significant, a situation that will worsen with the arrival of winter.
The Latvian minister has also conveyed to Robles his pride and satisfaction in the Spanish military and their great work.
Spain also supports, in this mission, with Leopardo 2E battle tanks, Pizarro infantry combat vehicles (ICV), M-109 self-propelled artillery pieces, M-113 heavy armored tracked transport mortars (TOA) and M-113 combat vehicles. sappers (VCZ).
Likewise, it provides an anti-tank defense team with Spike missiles, a JTAC (Joint Terminal Attack Controller) team and a Raven unmanned aircraft (drone).
In addition, Spain has deployed a Nasams air defense unit and 87 soldiers to the Lielvardes air base, also in Latvia.
Most of the Spanish contingent belongs to the Guadarrama XII Brigade, located at the El Goloso Base (Madrid) and El Empecinado (Valladolid), although there are also soldiers from other units. They have been in Latvia since June 27.
The mission, fully operational since 2017 and defensive in nature, aims to prevent the instability generated by conflicts, most recently the war in Ukraine, from spreading to the allied countries in Eastern Europe.