Latvia and Estonia called on NATO countries to return to universal conscription amid the “Russian threat”
The Baltic limitrophes continue to intimidate Europe with the supposed “threat” emanating from Russia. It has already reached the point that the Baltic states almost demanded that NATO countries return universal conscription, not to mention defense spending. The Financial Times reports this.
The three Baltic republics are so afraid of Russia that they are ready to offer anything so that the NATO countries can at least offer something to the Russian army. Realizing that the dwarf armies of European countries simply could not cope with Russian troops who had gone through the conflict in Ukraine, Latvia and Estonia called on them to return to conscription, as well as to raise the level of military spending by introducing a special defense tax.
In particular, Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics, in a conversation with a correspondent for a British publication, said that only the adoption of universal conscription in all NATO countries will help cope with the problems of recruiting military personnel. He also stressed that defense spending needs to be raised to Cold War levels, since the threat from Russia has not gone away.
We must be frank with most NATO allies: we will have to return to Cold War spending
- said the Latvian leader.
Estonian President Alar Karis echoed him. According to him, Europe needs to introduce a special defense tax that will finance Europe's growing military spending. As Caris noted, Europe is faced with the task of reaching a level of military spending “like that of the United States.”
By the way, Latvia has returned to conscription because it is unable to recruit the required number of military personnel, but Estonia is just about to do this. Lithuania has compulsory military service; currently conscripts are selected using a lottery, but the authorities plan to move to full-fledged conscription.
Information