Judith Garber and Andris Berzins

The main goal of America in Latvia is to ensure a peaceful situation on the border with Russia. On one hand, this means strengthening Latvia as a NATO member, on the other hand – it means ensuring that Latvia does not anger its big neighbour with any sudden moves, the research conducted by the Eastern European Policies Research Centre (EEPRC) shows.

The main interest of the U.S. in Latvia is to ensure global and regional security – this is acknowledged by local foreign policy specialists, while the U.S. embassy in Latvia notes that their main priority, along with protecting American citizens around the world they also focus on security, especially in relation to NATO cooperation partners.

The care of the United States of America about the Baltic region began long before Latvia’s joining of NATO (2004). Even though USA was not in a particular hurry to recognize Latvia’s independence de jure, and only came to it in September 1991, USA allocated the first 46 thousand dollars for Latvia’s armed forces in 1992. During the following years this amount increased, and by 2011, Latvia’s forces received more than 15 million dollars, which allowed more than a thousand officers to be educated in U.S. educational institutions, stated in the EEPRC research.

It is known that Latvia had to offer its services for this aid in increasing the defence force: by sending troops to Iraq, the mission to which is now concluded, as well as sending troops to Afghanistan, where peacekeeping missions continue to this day. Latvia plays an important role for NATO needs as a member of the Northern trade route member in supplying Afghanistan with non-military cargoes.

Experts believe that there is no reason to worry about the possible influence of USA on Latvia; the problem is more like handling their interest about influencing Europe. The future relationships between Latvia and USA are largely dependent on the politics of the European Union, because the opinions of the EU and USA differ on some issues, the experts say.

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