If NATO collectively decides that it is necessary, nuclear weapons could be deployed in Latvia, President of Latvia Edgars Rinkēvičs told journalists today.
Earlier this month, the Lithuanian parliament, the Seimas, backed in a first vote the removal of a constitutional ban on deploying nuclear weapons in the country. Article 137 of Lithuania’s Constitution currently stipulates that weapons of mass destruction and foreign military bases may not be stationed on Lithuanian territory.
Rinkēvičs stressed that Latvia’s Constitution contains no such prohibition.
“We have no legally established obstacles in our laws to the deployment of nuclear weapons in Latvia,” the President said.
He explained that in 2003, as Latvia was preparing to join NATO, each member state had affirmed that it would impose no restrictions on the implementation of NATO’s full collective security mechanism, including participation in the Alliance’s nuclear deterrence system.
“If such a need arises and if NATO makes such a collective decision, nuclear weapons will be deployed in Latvia,”
Rinkēvičs said.
At the same time, he stressed that there are currently no specific discussions about deploying nuclear weapons in Latvia.
Commenting on the United Kingdom’s offer to extend nuclear protection to members of the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) – the Baltic states, Nordic countries and the Netherlands – Rinkēvičs argued that without nuclear deterrence, several conventional wars would likely have spread across Europe long ago.
The use of nuclear weapons is an absolute last resort, but their existence deters an aggressor from unpredictable or large-scale actions, Rinkēvičs said.
The President noted that the United Kingdom is already part of NATO’s nuclear deterrence system and that Latvia is already protected by NATO’s nuclear umbrella, provided by the United States and the United Kingdom. As a JEF member, Latvia views all additional security measures and arrangements positively.
“We understand that this remains part of NATO’s overall policy,”
the President said.
As previously reported, the United Kingdom’s offer was confirmed by the head of the Royal Navy, General Gwyn Jenkins, during a visit to Finland on Monday, where he met Heikki Autto, chairman of the Finnish parliament’s Defence Committee.
“The [British] head of the armed forces has emphasised the United Kingdom’s strong commitment to JEF cooperation, and these new opportunities have also been created through that cooperation,” Autto told Finnish news agency STT, commenting on his meeting with Jenkins.
“Finland will be under the nuclear umbrella, and this will be guaranteed by submarines currently patrolling the Atlantic Ocean,” Jenkins confirmed.
An agreement on the creation of a new type of combat force within the JEF is expected to be signed in November.
The new group will have wartime defence plans and is expected to be capable of immediately engaging in military operations in the event of a threat from Russia.
The JEF is a coalition of ten like-minded countries – Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom – comprising high-readiness forces capable of responding rapidly to crises in the High North and Northern Europe.
The coalition was established in 2014 at the initiative of the United Kingdom in response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea. Finland and Sweden joined the JEF in 2017, before becoming NATO members.
The JEF is now regarded as a first-response force complementing NATO.
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