Denmark will send a NATO battalion to Latvia next year to help support the Baltic state following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the defence ministry said Tuesday.
“As of mid-2024, Denmark will make a battalion available to NATO for the defence of the Baltic states, which will be deployed in Latvia part of the year and the rest of the year in Denmark, where it will be on standby ready to go to the Baltic states in the event of a crisis,” a ministry statement said.
The battalion is expected to made up of between 700 and 1,200 troops.
“The composition and the size of the battalion, as well as the duration of the specific deployments, will depend on NATO and its allies’ needs”, as well as the Danish forces’ deployment possibilities, the statement added.
Former Soviet states on NATO’s eastern front have called for the alliance to boost defence capacity in the region.
Denmark is part of a permanent NATO mission in the region dubbed the Enhanced Forward Presence and last March sent 225 soldiers to Estonia.
