Pence pledges US support of Baltic nations against Russia

Vice President Mike Pence said the US stands with the Baltic nations against any threats from Russia as tensions continue to flare between the former Cold War foes. Pence made Estonia his first stop on a visit to eastern Europe during which he’ll also visit Georgia and Montenegro, where he’ll meet Balkan NATO members and aspirants. His trip follows recent Russian-Chinese naval exercises in the Baltic Sea and comes before planned Russian military drills in September that have in the past simulated an attack on the region.

Russia’s annexation of Crimea and involvement in the conflict in eastern Ukraine spooked the Baltics and triggered a rethink of NATO’s role in ex-communist Europe. Western troops were added in response in nations such as Estonia and Latvia, unwilling former Soviet republics with large Russian-speaking minorities. While recently backing NATO’s collective-security pledge, President Donald Trump has courted Russian President Vladimir Putin and raised doubts about the U.S.’s commitment to far-away allies. “No threat looms larger in the Baltic states than the specter of aggression from your unpredictable neighbor to the east,” Pence said during his stay in Estonia’s capital, Tallinn. “At this very moment, Russia continues to seek to redraw international borders by force, undermine democracy of sovereign nations and divide the free nations of Europe one against another.”

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Source: Bloomberg