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V4 eyes sending military unit to Baltic area: ministers

Xinhua, May 26, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Visegrad Four (V4) group wants to send a rotation military unit to the Baltic area in 2017, the V4 defence ministers agreed on Wednesday in a meeting held in Liblice, Czech Republic.

V4 will submit the offer to NATO in July. The unit would operate in the Baltic area in strengthening NATO's military presence in the East. It would take part in training and an exercise.

The detailed actions of the unit are to be discussed by the V4 countries in the weeks to come.

Czech Defence Minister Martin Stropnicky said the chiefs of staff will meet at the end of the first week in June. The meeting will be followed by a meeting of defense ministers in Warsaw.

According to the preliminary data, each state would provide a unit of 150 soldiers, with each unit expected to operate in the Baltic area for three months.

Stropnicky said the unit will also train in cooperation with troops from the Baltic countries.

The four countries' ministers also confirmed on Wednesday their countries' intention to prepare another Battle Group EU comprised of V4 soldiers and deployable in the first half of 2019. The first V4 battlegroup has been on standby on the European Union's behalf since January. The assignment will last until the end of June.

According to the minister's declaration, the V4 countries agree that the presence of NATO forces on the eastern wing, including Poland, is essential for strengthening the security of the entire region.

The V4 ministers also agreed that they will accelerate the national procedures in individual V4 countries to enable the signing of bilateral agreements on protection of airspace.

NATO recently decided to send multinational units to the Baltic region. Details of the plan are to be presented at the July NATO summit in Warsaw.

The V4 countries include Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. The four countries' defence ministers held a two-day meeting to discuss the current security affairs in the Liblice chateau at the close of the Czech six-month rotating presidency of the V4. Enditem