RIGA — Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced that Canada will keep troops in Latvia through to 2029, as part of a mission to deter Russian aggression in Europe that has given Ottawa an outsized role in the transatlantic alliance.

“We must deter and fortify. And that is the way that we can provide true reassurance,” Carney said at a Tuesday news conference in Riga, flanked by Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina.

Carney’s office says there are now 2,000 Canadian Armed Forces troops in Latvia as part of Operation Reassurance, which is Canada’s largest overseas mission. Canadian troops have been there since 2017 to strengthen the defence of Europe’s eastern flank and to deter Russian from invading Baltic countries, through what many call a “trip wire.”

The current authority for the missi

See Full Page