NATO air surveillance over the Baltic will be based in Latvia in 2024 on a provisional basis

RIGA, 22 May. (DPA/EP) –

The NATO air surveillance mission over the skies of the Baltic countries will have its temporary base in Latvia instead of Estonia in 2024, the defense ministers of these European Union countries said this Sunday.

Fighter jets and personnel assigned to the Atlantic Alliance’s Baltic air surveillance mission will be stationed at the Latvian airfield of Lielvarde while the Estonian military airport of Ämari undergoes renovation works. After completing the repair work, the soldiers will return to Estonia.

The Ämari renovation works are scheduled to start next spring and last between six and eight months, Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said during his visit to Riga to meet his Latvian counterpart.

Pevkur has indicated that the temporary relocation will make it possible to organize the infrastructure of the military base in Ämari, which has been in intensive use since 2014, according to statements collected by the Estonian newspaper ‘Postimees’.

“The Russian war in Ukraine has clearly shown how important air defense is. Cooperation with the allies and the reception of their air defense units is a prerequisite for an orderly infrastructure,” the defense minister said.

The Baltic republics lack air defenses and no air forces, so they rely on NATO members to patrol their airspace near the Russian and Belarusian borders.