Canada to deploy 15 Leopard 2 tanks in Latvia

The Canadian authorities intend to deploy a Leopard 2 tank company to Latvia within the framework of cooperation with NATO by autumn.

According to TASS, this was announced by Anita Anand, Minister of National Defence of the North American country, at a press conference in Brussels.

"I am announcing that Canada will deploy a tank company of 15 Leopard 2 A4M tanks as well as support personnel and equipment to Latvia," she said. They are expected to arrive in Latvia by autumn 2023.

According to her, the transfer of tanks to Latvia is necessary to strengthen the NATO grouping in that country. Together with tanks, Anand specified that there will be about 50 units of Canadian military equipment, including tank transporters and 131 military personnel.

The NATO summit in Warsaw in July 2016 decided to deploy four multinational battalions to the Baltic states and Poland from early 2017. The Latvian battalion was then led by Canada. At the Madrid summit in 2022, Anand said Canada and its NATO allies would send additional troops to Latvia, which would eventually form a combat-ready brigade. The country will be supplied with the necessary weapons and infrastructure.