Latvia wants more NATO troops, fed up of "paying for lunch for the others"

British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace gestures before posing for a family photo with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar, Greek Defence Minister Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos, Hungary's Defence Minister Kristof Szalay-Bobrovniczky, Iceland's Defence Minister Thordis Kolbrun Reykfjord Gylfadottir, Portugal's Defence Minister Helena Carreiras, Italy's Defence Minister Lorenzo Guerini, and Latvia's Defence Minister Artis Pabriks, during a NATO defence ministers meeting at the Alliance's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium June 16, 2022. REUTERS/Yves Herman

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Latvia on Thursday made a last pitch for the deployment of more NATO troops in the Baltics, two weeks before NATO leaders are set to decide the future military line-up on the alliance's eastern flank in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Latvian Defence Minister Artis Pabriks called for larger forces in the Baltic states and said that any sign of weakness - be it in Ukraine or on NATO territory - would encourage Russia.