By Sabine Siebold
VALGA, Estonia, June 30 (Reuters) – The United States will stand with its European allies in the defence of the Baltic countries, the American commander of NATO’s land forces in Europe said on Tuesday as the alliance assigned an additional headquarters to the region.
“You’re ready to do more and following words with action, and the United States will be there alongside you,” U.S. General Chris Donahue said at a ceremony in the Estonian town of Valga.
“That is how deterrence is built: Not with words from a podium, but with boots in the mud.”
Donahue, who will relinquish his post on Thursday, doubles as chief of the U.S. Army in Europe and Africa.
NATO troops in the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, and in northern Poland, have until now come under the command of a single multinational headquarters based in the northwestern Polish city of Szczecin.
Creating a second command zone allows the alliance to devote more troops to the Baltic states.
For now, two multinational divisions in Estonia and Latvia will come under the command of the German Netherlands Corps based in the German town of Muenster.
NATO has said Russia, which invaded Ukraine in 2022, could mount a large-scale assault on allied territory as early as 2029 if it continues arming as it is now. The Kremlin denies such plans.
Pressure on Europe to increase its defences has mounted following criticism from U.S. President Donald Trump, who accuses the bloc of not pulling its military weight.
DETERMINATION TO DEFEND EVERY INCH OF NATO TERRITORY
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said the shift in NATO’s posture was proof of the alliance’s determination to defend every inch of allied territory.
“It is a visible and strong demonstration of NATO’s unity, readiness, and of our collective determination to defend every inch of Allied territory,” he said in Valga.
When fully operational, an army corps typically commands three divisions, or 40,000 to 60,000 troops. In peacetime, it normally exists as a skeleton command structure, with specialist functions such as artillery, air defence and medics in place to allow rapid deployment of troops when needed.
The Multi-National Corps Northeast in Szczecin has been in charge of the entire region until now. It was set up in 2017, three years after Russia annexed the Crimea region of Ukraine.
A second corps in charge of Baltic defence would allow NATO to bring in “mass at speed,” a military official said on condition of anonymity.
(Reporting by Sabine Siebold, Editing by Linda Pasquini and Timothy Heritage)
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