Canada to deploy battle group near Russia: Premier

Canada says it is set to commit hundreds of troops to a NATO force near the Russian border, in what will be Ottawa’s largest military presence in Europe in more than a decade.

On Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his country “will deploy a frigate that will undertake operational tasks with NATO’s maritime forces in the region. Canada will also deploy an Air Task Force — which will include up to six CF-18 fighter aircraft — to conduct periodic surveillance and air policing activities in Europe.”

The battle group that will be based in Latvia by early 2017 with the declared aim of countering “threats” posed by Russia. Ottawa is also scheduled to lead the battalion.

“We are ready to respond to support NATO with some of the most effective soldiers, sailors, and airmen and airwomen in the world,” the Canadian premier added.

The Canadian Defense Ministry said last week that the country will send 1,000 troops to Latvia to join one of NATO’s battalions that are being assembled in Eastern Europe in a show of force against Russia.

Canadian Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan said on June 30 that Ottawa will establish a rotational NATO battle group to enhance the alliance’s “defense posture” in Eastern and Central Europe.

The development came as NATO leaders agreed on Friday to deploy four battalions totaling up to 4,000 troops in Poland and the Baltic states against they referred to as “Russian aggression.”

 “These battalions will be robust and they will be multinational. They make clear that an attack on one ally will be considered an attack on the whole alliance,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in a press briefing following the first working session of a two-day summit in the Polish capital Warsaw.

Reacting to the development, the Russian military said it was forced to respond to the emerging security challenge posed by the NATO buildup with adequate defensive measures, including the establishment of new army divisions and enhancing the navy’s Baltic and Black Sea Fleets.

Meanwhile, NATO recently held its largest-ever joint maneuvers in Poland to the west of Russia, a move that was immediately censured by Russian authorities.

NATO has stepped up its military build-up near Russia’s borders since it suspended all ties with Moscow in April 2014 after the Black Sea Crimean Peninsula re-integrated into the Russian Federation following a referendum.

Moscow has repeatedly repudiated NATO’s expansion near its borders, saying such a move poses a threat to both regional and international peace.

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