Voice of America
September 3, 2014
Obama Stresses NATO Commitment to Baltics
Luis Ramirez
TALLINN, ESTONIA: President Barack Obama condemned Russia’s intervention in Ukraine Wednesday as a “brazen assault” on the country’s integrity and assured three former Soviet satellite states that NATO would defend them against any aggression by Moscow.
Obama said that Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia had lost their independence before to Moscow, but that “with NATO, you will never lose it again.”
Speaking to a crowd of about 2,000 at the Nordea Concert Hall, Obama praised Estonia as a model NATO member and said, “There is no doubt the Baltics have made our alliance stronger.”
Obama said that the Baltic states, which joined the alliance in 2004, share NATO’s vision of a free and peaceful Europe, and that peace is now threatened by Russia’s aggressions [sic] against Ukraine, calling it “a brazen assault upon a sovereign and independent nation.”
The U.S. president urged NATO to send an “unmistakable message of support” to Ukraine and said the alliance would continue to help the country build democratic institutions, train its military and diversify its energy sources.
…
Obama declared that NATO would be resolute in defending the three Baltic states on Russia’s western border.
“We will defend our NATO allies, and that means every ally,” he stressed. “In this alliance, there are no old members or new members, no junior partners or senior partners. They’re just allies, pure and simple.”
Earlier Wednesday, Obama announced plans to send more aircraft to the Baltics, as he seeks to reassure Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, which are on edge about possible Russian threats.
…Similar to Ukraine, the three have sizeable Russian minorities..
In 1997, NATO agreed to not position its troops on Russia’s border, but Obama said that declaration will be open to discussion at Thursday’s NATO summit in Wales because “circumstances clearly have changed” with Moscow’s involvement in Ukraine.
Air Force increase
Obama made his earlier remarks at a news conference Wednesday with Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves in the Estonian capital, Tallinn, one day before the start of a key NATO summit in Wales.
Obama announced the U.S. would send more Air Force units and aircraft to the Baltics, and called Estonia’s Amari Air Base an ideal location to base those forces.
Standing with Ilves, Obama ticked through a list of U.S. military resources already at work in the region, and said the U.S. has a duty under the NATO charter to the alliance’s collective defense.
“It is unbreakable, it is unwavering, it is eternal. And Estonia will never stand alone,” Obama said in Tallinn, Estonia’s port capital.
The president also said all NATO members must do their fair share of defense spending in order to bolster the alliance.
Obama held up Estonia as an example of how all 28 NATO members must fulfill their pledges to contribute 2 percent of their gross domestic product to the alliance.
Source