German defence minister visits NATO mission at Latvian airbase
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German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius visited the Lielvarde airbase in Latvia on Tuesday.
The minister and his delegation arrived early Tuesday at the airfield, which is being used by the German Air Force as a base for the NATO air policing mission in the Baltic states.
Pistorius is expected to be updated on the deployment of German pilots to protect the airspace over the EU and NATO members Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which border Russia.
He also plans meet his Latvian counterpart Andris Sprūds for talks.
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania do not have their own fighter jets. Their NATO allies have been on rotating deployments to secure Baltic airspace since the three former Soviet republics joined the alliance in 2004.
Germany's latest deployment began in March. According to the German Air Force, its Eurofighters have since carried out 13 alert take-offs and have identified Russian military aircraft over the Baltic Sea.
The air force has stationed five Eurofighters and around 200 soldiers at the military airfield, which is located around 60 kilometres south-east of the Latvian capital Riga, for deployment on NATO's eastern flank.
This year marks the first use of the Lielvarde base for the air policing mission.
