Ahead of the NATO Summit next week, President Barack Obama will visit Estonia to reassure Baltic allies of US support amid Russian aggression in Ukraine. In Tallinn, President Obama is to meet the presidents of all three Baltic states: Estonia’s Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Latvia’s Andris Berzins, and Lithuania’s Dalia Grybauskaite.
In an online chat with the Atlantic Council on August 29, Ambassador Matthew Bryza, a nonresident senior fellow at the Council, previews the significance of this trip. He discusses the message President Obama should give to the Baltic states. Bryza emphasizes that, in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the president must reaffirm the US commitment to the NATO Charter’s Article V – the promise of collective defense. Bryza also assesses regional concern about the risk of further Russian “military adventurism” into other countries.