Ottawa – The Canadian Armed Forces marks the 5th anniversary of leading NATO’s multinational enhanced Forward Presence Battle Group in Latvia.
Following Russia’s invasion of Crimea, NATO Allies agreed at the 2016 Summit in Warsaw to establish an enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) in the eastern part of the Alliance, in order to strengthen deterrence measures.
Canada, as the Framework Nation for eFP in Latvia, is responsible for leading a ten-nation multinational battle group composed of Albania, Canada, the Czech Republic, Iceland, Italy, Montenegro, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain, and for coordinating with Latvia and the contributing nations to help set the tone, pace and vision for this Battle Group.
The eFP Battle Group works within the Latvian Armed Forces’ infantry brigade, conducting joint training to be able to respond effectively to an attack and remains a tangible reminder that an attack against one NATO member is an attack against all members.
In March 2022, Canada also announced its intent to renew its multi-year commitment to Operation REASSURANCE.
During her recent visit to Brussels, Defence Minister Anita Anand joined with other contributing nations to eFP, as well as the Latvian Minister of Defence, Artis Pabriks, to mark this anniversary of the Battle Group, which formed part of the biggest reinforcement of NATO’s collective defence in a generation.
“As we mark this anniversary of Canada’s initial contribution to NATO in Latvia, the unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine by Russia has required a stronger presence in Eastern Europe by the Canadian Armed Forces. Canadians can be proud of the work undertaken by the CAF in leading the enhanced Forward Presence. Canada’s early renewal of this operation shows our commitment to NATO and the rules-based international order. I sincerely thank all of our CAF personnel deployed to the region for their important contributions.” – Anita Anand, Minister of National Defence