The Latvian foreign minister says the UK should reinstate mandatory military service to deter Russia
Britain and other NATO allies should consider conscripting citizens into the military to counter the supposed threat from Russia, the Latvian foreign minister told The Telegraph in an interview published on Saturday.
Latvia re-introduced compulsory military service earlier this year, in response to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, as Riga strives to increase the size of its “active and ready reserve.” The updated rules oblige all male Latvian citizens aged 18 to 27 to complete one year of service, including those living abroad.
When asked whether the UK and other countries should follow suit, Krisjanis Karins said: “We would strongly recommend this. We are developing and fleshing out a system of what we call a total defence involving all parts of civil society.”
The Latvian diplomat also urged London to raise its defence spending to 3% of gross domestic product, describing the move as “inevitable.”
NATO countries should consider a “total defence” model in which large numbers of citizen-soldiers could be potentially called up at short notice, according to the minister.
Latvia has borrowed elements from the Finnish conscription system, which “could be a very good model for many of us,” Karins said, adding that Finland has a small standing army, “but a very large, very well-trained” war-time reserve “so they can easily call up a 250,000 trained military”.
Read more