Board member of LATO Juris Ulmanis: Reducing the defence budget in favour of fighting coronavirus should not be allowed
“Although currently in the political and media agenda Covid–19 has taken the main place, it is unacceptable that in this emergency situation individual politicians in the fight against Covid–19 are prepared to “throw” Latvia‘s defence budget, forgetting that the armed forces are the backbone of public security in both military and civilian crises”, states Juris Ulmanis, board member of the Latvian Transatlantic Organisation, the founder of the National Guard Support Fund “Zemessargam.lv” and the Chief Lieutenant of the National Guard.
“We are a NATO member state and we can count on the support of the alliance in difficult times. This has just been demonstrated again by NATO, specifically calling for the health crisis not to be made into a security crisis. In a recent survey carried out by the Alliance Member States, most people have acknowledged that NATO’s membership reduces the possibility that an aggressor country carries out military attacks against them. In Latvia, 73% of respondents agreed to this. It is a convincing signal that we must continue to respect our commitments to the Alliance, including those concerning the amount of funding for the armed forces”, in his comment to the portal “Delfi.lv” said Juris Ulmanis.
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Photo: Armīns Janiks/Ministry of Defence