Denmark Set to Send 4 Fighter Jets, Frigate to Baltic States

MURMANSK (Sputnik) - Copenhagen is planning to send four F-16 interceptors and a frigate to the Baltic States to support NATO, which sees the threat of a real military conflict in Europe, Danish Defense Minister Trine Bramsen said on Monday.

Denmark offered NATO that it sends four F16 fighter jets with the staff of 70 people and a frigate with 160 people on board to Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, Bramsen told the Danish TV2 broadcaster.

"It is important to stand up for the values ​​we believe in and send a very clear signal to Russia," Bramsen said after a meeting of the foreign policy council.

The minister added that Russia allegedly amassed thousands of soldiers near the border with Ukraine and requested for a new security treaty, which will force NATO forces out of the Baltic States and Poland despite their membership in the alliance. The request, Bramsen went on, contradicts the EU right to self-determination, just as another Russia's request to ban Ukraine and other neighboring countries from joining NATO. Therefore, Denmark is ready to extend a helping hand to the Baltic States in the event of Russia's aggression, Bramsen concluded.

In late 2021, Russia forwarded a list of proposals to the United States and NATO on security guarantees that would restrain the alliance from expanding eastward, admitting Ukraine, and forming military bases in post-Soviet countries. The first round of negotiations officially kicked off with the US earlier today in Geneva. Talks with NATO are slated for Wednesday.

Russia has repeatedly refuted accusations of western countries and Ukraine of "aggressive actions," qualifying them as a pretext to deploy more NATO military equipment close to the Russian borders.