You're reading: Baltic States, Northern Europe see Russia as threat – Estonian military chief

TALLINN - The Baltic and northern European countries are seeing Russia and international terrorism as their main security threats, regional military commanders said at their meeting in Riga on Thursday, according to officials in Tallinn.

“I am glad to see that our partners are viewing sources of danger in the region in the same way,” Estonian Defence Forces Commander Lt. Gen. Riho Terras has said.

“The meeting attendees see Russia’s actions and international terrorism among the main sources of danger,” said a spokesperson for the Defense Forces central headquarters.

The parties discussed security in the Baltic Sea, the possibility of cooperation between various military service branches and the fight against terrorism.

For the first time, the traditional meeting of Baltic and Northern European commanders was attended by their counterparts from Poland, Germany and Iceland.

The meeting was also attended by NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe Gen. Philip Breedlove.

He said that in the spring of 2017, the United States will conduct a restructuring of its troops in the Baltic States and send there its best armor and soldiers.

On Wednesday, he said that the U.S. will respond to Russia’s aggression by sending an additional armored brigade to Eastern Europe.

Commenting on these remarks, Russian representative to NATO Alexander Grushko said that Moscow will not leave such actions without a response.