Latvian Military Border Defense Plan

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Edited by Chris Cappy and Savvystudios
Associate Producer: Andrew Tucker

I’m thinking the same thing as you. What about NATO’s Article 5 clause if Latvia is attacked then NATO would defend them. We’ll that’s not necessary true according to Radin’s analysis. This kind of covert action would make it difficult for NATO to point to it and say that it was Russian aggression because these troops would claim to be Latvian. Fortunately analysts believe this tactic is less likely to work against Latvia because their economy is doing well, giving less reason to rebel. The economic situation in eastern Ukraine was very bad which made them more vulnerable to this kind of outside covert subversion.

In the think tank research paper titled “Russia’s influence and presence in Latvia” Artus Bikovs points out that A lot has been said about Putin’s statement that the collapse of the Soviet empire “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century.” but not much has been said about the second part of Putin's statement where he goes on to say “Tens of millions of our co-citizens and compatriots found themselves outside Russian territory” This is a hint as to why Russia’s foreign policy has been to undermine democracy in Latvia. I think the Kremlin genuinely believes that many of Russia’s people have found themselves essentially trapped outside the country due to no fault of their own and that they rightfully belong under the Russian Federation's protection.

[Taskandpurpose]

Hey spare parts army thanks for watching, would you be cool with your country doing a total defense strategy? Big thanks to Ridge for sending me this wallet and supporting the channel! ridge.com/TASKANDPURPOSE use code: TASK for 10% off

[thezukazujshow]

My brothers Latvians, love from Lithuania

[oldlens]

A five or six years ago police officer from USA visiting Latvia asked me - how would I characterize Latvians. To which I said - we are like bees. We are peaceful, hard working and quite introvert people who minds their own business, but when the time comes and someone wants to mess with us - may the Lord have mercy on their souls.

[LacenWolk]

The total war concept was taken in yugoslavia. In case of an invasion, everyone and their grandma was supposed to have a firearm, and because we don't have enough Frontline army to resist an occupation, the idea was to attrition them down heavily, whilst small professional army starts making gains. The idea is to discourage invasion due to super high costs

[ukaszt]

Stay strong my Baltic friends! You have support from Poland and in time of need i hope we will stand with you arm to arm against threat.

[matrixberzins]

Hello! I am Latvian who live in west side of Latvia - I am also member of national guard 4.brigade (Latvia military forces) and my full time job is in one of Scandinavian bank who work in Latvia.
I love your video - but there is few things what I want to mention.
1) 35% in Latvia is Russian speaking but not Russians - under your statistic 35% is Ukrainians, Belarusians, people from Central Asia and Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia) and also Moldova - so real number of Russians are 24% about - local Ukrainians are mainly not supporting Russia. Of course - not all Russians supporting Putin - and here coming more and more people from Russia who try find safe place for themself and they family's from Russia and Putin brutal regime.
2) CVRT - yes! But you said it's old - from 1960.g. yeah they original chasse is from that time - but UK sold as rebuild versions + totally new diesel engines + these vehicles have also included Israel made SPIKE anti-tank guided missile systems (same deadly weapon against heavy equipment like tank as U.S. Javelin).
3) What you said correct - it's about weight - how I know Latvia defense ministry was before CVRT been consider to buy tanks but - yeah - when first U.S. M1A2 Abrams came here in Latvia military training base for exercise - then they realized that Tanks lose they mobility in our soft ground + we have 65% terrain covered by deep forests - where tank is just perfect pray for even small infantry unit with simple ATM - like Carl Gustaf. So CVRT is perfect infantry support vehicle for our situation - and you are right about bridges.
3) You did not mention that Latvia have not only CVRT but also M109 artillery - 155 mm gun - and trainings are for them is work together with CVRT + drones. And Latvia together with Finland building together Patria 6x6 APC - it is a Finland project - but Latvia bought 200x Patria 6x6 - but what is the best part of this deal - Latvia are allowed with Finland produce these APC in Latvia (Cēsis town) and first time in history Latvia have military industry since 1991. - and Sweden is willing to join this project.
4) I will not continue about what other weapons and equipment we have - but our next step what is already made - we want get rid of USSR era helicopters - and we waiting our U.S. Black Hawks helicopters delivery + we been training our pilots for them already 2x years at least + next target is HIMARS and NASAMS 3 air defense systems - we also now investing in Liepāja military port - and seen we start build new large military base in somewhere Latvia - so we can bring more equipment + NATO allies and make our force's larger - so we invest in our defense more and more every year.

There is video about our military vehicles what you did not include in your video :)

[JS-txwb]

There is no 40% non-resident money in Latvian banks anymore. Since 2017 there was a huge change in monetary and AML policy. That number now is closer to 5%. But thank you for overview. And that is a view of veteran Latvian officer with expierence of some missions in AFG.

[Stewart]

In January people started remarking on the Russian build-up in Belarus. Nobody really paid much attention. I started paying attention when it was noted that real blood was being delivered to their field hospitals. You don't deliver valuable and perishable items such as blood unless you mean business.

[darksideofthemoon]

I was in Latvia from late April to early May this year. I was there for my Navy Reserve unit and we were conducting transporting Army vehicles throughout the Baltic states and Poland. Yeah, they loved us being there and they were also hosting Ukranian families at the hotel we were staying at too. This article was pretty accurate.

[krebssfish]

To clarify about the training exercises in Riga:

The defence ministry _did not_ apologise about the exercises being held, given that they were mostly supported by the population. What they _did_ apologise for was not informing everyone well enough about them.

Edit: I should mention that they will also continue to hold such exercises annually (and I fully support that).

[Frag]

As a Latvian this is quite interesting. One comment about Russian's being 'stuck' in Latvia, they are free to return to Russia, and solely decide not to.

[edss]

Paldies par atspoguļojumu, ļoti akurāts atskats par mūsu valsti!

[freakazoidas]

Thanks a lot for posting these videos about Baltic states. There are plenty of videos East vs West, Nato vs Russia, but definitely not enough videos about smaller countries who want to keep their sovereignty, freedom and democracy and how they're achieving it.

[RudeWolfy]

Stellar vid! One thing - unlike UA which is a huge open field, Latvia is basically a huge forest ridden with swamps. Tanks are at a huge disadvantage here and it's basically a guerilla wonderland. We might not have the numbers or tech of our western allies, but we have one thing they don't - a very clear memory of what happens if we lose. Let the putinists come, we will call our local Russians, Ukranians, Jews, Belorussians, Poles and our Eesti and Lithuanian bros to stand up once more. For the first time in our history to kill a red and a nazi you'd have to put a hole in one guy!

[intrudery]

If ww’s told us anything, its never just Latvia, usually Baltics gets invaded together.

[blackdotlv]

im latvian and we dont have any heritage with russia, we hate them, we were occupied by them we will never let that repeat. Thank god we are in NATO. 🇱🇻🇺🇦

[easaspace]

After watching a few of your videos a while back, you came off as more of a comedian/arm chair solider. Now I have come to enjoy your views, your humor and how you openly admit to love USA and NATO. It make it clear that you are what you are, and you present things the way YOU see them. I like that a lot, and that is why I'm subbing to your channel. Thanks for the great contents and have a great day!

[vilnaric]

CVR's are certainly a big part of our military, but just as our neighbours, we are also investing in new IFV's.
I think it's also important to point out the CAVS joint programme that introduces the Finnish produced Patria 6x6 APC to both nations as a standardised vehicle that could cut costs whilst also providing some limited versatility. Considering the vehicle can be equipped with a 120mm howitzer and is suited for the muddy swampy terrain of Latvia, it could just as well be the perfect substitute for the lack of MBT's.
Of course the programme is quite new and whether the programme is even worthwhile is still unknown, but it appears promising as there are already 200 units on order and its said that the vehicle assembly will be in house starting from 2023.

[DaNINJA]

I did some training in Latvia recently. They have some interesting gear and they are really going hard on training. I met a few of them that immigrated to the United States, lived here for a decade or so, and the moment Russia invaded they moved back to Latvia and enlisted. Their troops are motivated to defend their country no matter the cost, and I think that mentality is a benefit. I have mad respect for the Latvians, they are ready to fight.

[martinsancitis]

Hey, greetings from Latvia! Great video! Fun fact - our former foreign minister Artis Pabriks is also a today's defence minister which you mentioned several times.