Key facts
- The U.S. will stand with European allies in the defense of the Baltic countries.
- NATO is assigning an additional headquarters to the Baltic region.
The United States will stand with European allies in defending the Baltic countries, according to U.S. General Chris Donahue, commander of NATO's land forces in Europe. The alliance is assigning an additional headquarters to the region to bolster its defensive posture.
The reinforcement of NATO's command structure in the Baltics signifies a concrete step to bolster regional defense capabilities amid ongoing geopolitical tensions with Russia, underscoring a commitment to collective security within the alliance.
The United States will stand with its European allies in the defense of the Baltic countries, according to U.S. General Chris Donahue, the American commander of NATO's land forces in Europe. His remarks came as the alliance assigned an additional headquarters to the region, a move German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius called a "visible and strong demonstration of NATO's unity, readiness, and of our collective determination to defend every inch of Allied territory."
Donahue stated that deterrence is built through action, not just words, and that the U.S. will be present alongside its allies. The creation of a second command zone will allow NATO to dedicate more troops to the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, as well as northern Poland. Previously, NATO troops in this region were under the command of a single multinational headquarters in Szczecin, Poland.
Under the new structure, two multinational divisions in Estonia and Latvia will be commanded by the German Netherlands Corps, based in Muenster, Germany. NATO has warned that Russia, following its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, could potentially launch a large-scale assault on allied territory as early as 2029 if its current armament continues, though the Kremlin denies such intentions.
The increased pressure on Europe to enhance its defenses has been amplified by criticism from U.S. President Donald Trump, who has accused the bloc of not contributing sufficiently to military efforts. An army corps, when fully operational, typically commands three divisions, comprising 40,000 to 60,000 troops, and usually exists as a skeleton command structure in peacetime, ready for rapid deployment.