Some Latvians may find presence of military equipment scary: Defense minister

The sight of military convoys moving around Latvia may indeed frighten some local residents who might ask questions about security in their country, Latvian Defense Minister Raimonds Vejonis said in a televised interview Monday for LNT television.

The minister said U.S. troops with more than 40 pieces of military equipment were rolling through Latvia, and a U.S.-led military exercise was under way at a military training ground outside Riga on March 22.

The defense minister said it was necessary to work harder to inform the population about the military exercises that were being held in Latvia's territory and to explain that they mean increased movement of armoured vehicles on Latvia's roads.

Vejonis also indicated that the armoured vehicles that could be seen on Latvia's roads of late belonged to allied vehicles.

Operation Summer Shield XII, an annual combined land, air and naval exercise, is taking place in the Adazi area from from March 22 to 31, with more than 1,100 troops from Latvia, Lithuania, Germany, Luxembourg, Canada and the United States participating.

With these exercises, "NATO members demonstrate solidarity rather than military power," the defense minister told journalists as he greeted the U.S. soldiers at Riga Passenger Port.

The U.S. military equipment, including 20 armored Stryker vehicles, arrived in Latvia on March 22 as the U.S. Army's 2nd Cavalry Regiment was making its so-called Dragoon Ride trek from Estonia to its home station in Vilseck, Germany, the Latvian defense ministry said.

From the Latvian-Estonian border town of Ainazi, the U.S. troops and equipment proceeded to Riga. On Monday, the convoy left Riga and moved on to the southern Latvian town of Bauska. Endit