Latvia is to expand its army to 40,000

Latvia is going to increase its military personnel to 40,000 men. This was announced by the Minister of Defence Andris Sprūds, as reported by BB.LV.

The basis for this should be a “high-readiness reserve,” which will consist of 8,000 professional military, 4,000 conscripts of the State Defence Service, 12,000 militia members and 7,000 reservists. In addition to this, there will also be 30,000 people of the “basic readiness reserve.”

“Their training is planned after 2030. However, the main challenge is not the actual staff, but the available budget for at least the purchase of minimal equipment,” said Gen. Kaspars Pudāns, Chief of Defence of the Republic of Latvia.

As you see, Riga simply ran out of money due to its senseless militarisation which only raises tensions with Russia. But still, they continue to follow this path and even take loans from the EU and NATO to achieve these goals. Obviously, Latvia will not collapse because of “Russian threat,” but because of its state debt being off the scale.