Edgars Rinkēvičs, head of the Latvian Foreign Ministry, said that Latvia should be ready for possible provocations during the Belarusian-Russian military exercises “Zapad-2017”. Provocation may seem like a random incident, Latvian DELFI reports.
According to Edgars Rinkēvičs, exercises “Zapad-2017” do not pose direct threat to Latvia. It is doubtful whether there is any desire for direct military conflict, as the NATO contingent is now present in Latvia. But the Latvian Minister of Foreign Affairs said that, probably, there will be attempts to explore the state of the defense system. For example, the Russian aircraft may “accidentally” fly into the airspace of Latvia.
Earlier, the Latvian Ministry of Defense received an invitation from Belarus for two military observers to take part in the exercises “Zapad-2017”.
NATO Ambassador to Latvia, Indulis Bērziņš, said that NATO does not have information that something terrible is being prepared.
“Such exercises can be used for the concentration of forces on the border: during the drill the real army is brought in, which at the end of the maneuvers may have a real task, which means that there is a hidden redeployment of troops for the attack. I heard that even the representatives of Belarus are worried about these exercises: the Russians will come and how many of them would go back? But right now, NATO has no information that something terrible may happen. Especially, because Belarus, and later Russia invited our observers. We only welcome this — it adds credibility,” Indulis Bērziņš said in an interview with DELFI.
