NATO Foreign Ministers Meeting to be held in Riga

The foreign ministers of NATO’s member states —including US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken—will convene today in Riga, Latvia. 

The meeting serves as early preparation for NATO’s official summit, scheduled for June in Madrid. Expect the main points of discussion to focus on the current migrant crisis along Belarus’ borders with three NATO member states and Russia’s military buildup along the eastern Ukrainian border. 

More than 2,000 migrants are currently camped along Belarus’ borders leading to EU and NATO accusations that Belarus is using the migrants as retaliation for ongoing sanctions, stemming from last year’s contested presidential elections. Additionally, Russia has been amassing troops near the Ukraine’s eastern Donbass region in recent months and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned of the potential for a Russia-backed coup to remove him from power. 

Expect NATO to use this opportunity to deliver an ultimatum to Belarus that further meddling and tension-stoking along its European borders will not be tolerated, and that a broadening of EU sanctions will likely follow if the situation is not improved. Additionally, an increase in troops in the affected countries is possible in order to send a message to Minsk and Moscow against future European incursions.