Agence France-Presse,
Vilnius: The United States is updating its plans to defend Baltic allies against attack, its military chief said Wednesday, calling Russia's invasion of Georgia a “stark reminder” of NATO's responsibilities.
Admiral Michael Mullen said the updated planning, coupled with more exercises, were needed to ensure NATO is prepared to stand behind its charter commitment to come to the defence of any member that is attacked.
“The invasion of Georgia by Russia is in a way a very stark reminder of these responsibilities,” he said after meeting Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus.
Mullen sought to reassure the leaders of Latvia and Lithuania after his first talks in Helsinki Tuesday with the chief of the Russian general staff, General Nikolai Makarov, to discuss tensions caused by the August 8 invasion.
Lithuania, Latvia and their neighbour Estonia gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 after five decades of rule from Moscow, and joined NATO in 2004 in part as protection against their former master.
Fellow ex-Soviet republic Ukraine has also been seeking NATO membership and has been jittery since Russia launched a military attack on Georgia in response to Tbilisi's efforts to reign in the rebel region of South Ossetia.
“I certainly understand the reaction in places like Ukraine and the Baltics after what happened in Georgia,” Mullen said. “Certainly what they just did was unacceptable and should not happen again.”
Lieutenant General Valdas Tutkus, Lithuania's defence chief, told a news conference with Mullen that his country wanted to see NATO conduct more military exercises to ensure it can defend its members.
Mullen agreed that plans should be updated both in light of Georgia and to reflect changes that have occurred in military thinking.
“As I indicated, the invasion certainly brought this into great focus. An important part of that focus is to make sure we all agree that here's how we would do things, that we have good plans in place,” he said.
“And that kind of review is something that is taking place right now.”
Relations between the US and Russia have deteriorated over the past two years amid growing anger in Russia over NATO's expansion and US plans to install missile defense sites in eastern Europe.
The Pentagon cancelled or suspended military exercises and exchanges with the Russians after the Georgia invasion.
But Mullen went to Finland on Tuesday at the request of his Russian counterpart to see if they could get the relationship back on track.
