Baltic Defence Review 2/1999 BALTBAT and development of Baltic Defence Forces By Robertas Sapronas, the Head of the Multilateral Projects Section in the International Relations Department of the Lithuanian Ministry of Defence clear illustration to the international the rather unique features of BALTBAT prominence that the BALTBAT project both as a military unit and as a multina- Introduction has received since its official start in Sep- tional project and the ways in which tember 1994, when the Governments of BALTBAT has contributed to the estab- The aim of this article is not to once Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania concluded lishment of defence structures in the three again repeat the history of the Baltic a tri-national Agreement on the establish- Baltic States. Also, I will briefly describe Battalion (BALTBAT). The project should ment of a joint peacekeeping unit. Soon the status of the Baltic battalion project be rather well known for those who have after that a number of Western countries (Autumn 1999) and the dilemmas that the an interest in the Baltic security affairs. led by Denmark have offered support to Baltic and the Supporting states are fac- BALTBAT is often mentioned when dis- the undertaking, thereby turning it into ing when trying to define the future di- cussion takes place on successful examples a multilateral project. rection for the battalion. of regional defence co-operation in the This article will have a special focus on This article is based on the personal post-Cold War Europe and also whenever the role that the Baltic Battalion has played experience of the author gained during the major developments in the defence or, in some aspects, was expected to play, the last several years through the partici- forces of the three Baltic States are presented. in the development of the armed forces pation in BALTBAT Steering Group In the simple www.altavista.com query of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. In par- meetings and being responsible for the BALTBAT received 324 hits. This is a ticular, I would like to discuss some of co-ordination of development of Baltic 55 Baltic Defence Review 2/1999 defence co-operation projects at the process was led on the one hand by vol- gion. Therefore, in their rhetoric towards Lithuanian Ministry of National Defence. unteers, who had little expertise to offer the Baltic States, representatives of NATO The opinions expressed in this article are but had plenty of good will and determi- and its member countries would always those of the author and do not necessar- nation, and, on the other, by the former choose careful wording and support only ily reflect the position of the Lithuanian Soviet Army officers who decided to sup- those practical co-operation activities that MND. port the establishment of armed forces in would be non-provocative to Moscow . their newly independent countries. Even Significant and comprehensive change if the latter group were in many cases came with the Brussels Ministerial meet- Context distrusted by the political leadership, they ing in January 1994 when NATO has launched the Partnership for Peace (PfP) The Baltic Battalion is a unique project were the only military experts in the coun- programme - a set of co-operation activi- in several important aspects. The format tries. The defence budgets were minuscule ties for the new Europe. Training for in which it was developed and the objec- in each of the three states, while signifi- multinational peacekeeping operations tives that were pursued by the Baltic and cant defence assistance could hardly be under UN mandates became an objective the Supporting countries can be fully expected from the Western countries. In that all PfP countries, including Russia, understood only within the broader in- their judgement, this could undermine found possible to agree. Multinational ternational context of late 1993 and early the difficult process of involving Russia peacekeeping exercises became the major 1994. During this period BALTBAT into closer defence co-operation with the part of PfP field training activities and project was developed from a vague con- West. In general, before January 1994, the were generously sponsored by NATO and cept into a viable project of great visibil- Baltic States had only very limited and ad the United States. ity and political significance for the three hoc external defence co-operation. Baltic countries. For NATO this was a period of final- In the Baltic States, this was the time ising its strategies towards its former ad- Challenges when the Soviet troops had completed versaries in the East, first and foremost - their withdrawal from Lithuania and were Russia. With respect to the Baltic States, The architects of the BALTBAT project about to complete it from Latvia and Es- NATO has well understood Russias mes- fully took into account the context of the tonia. The armed forces in the three states sage that they had certain sensitivities PfP world of its early days. The Baltic were at the initial stage of creation. This as well as special interests in the Baltic re- battalion was a multinational unit trained 56 Baltic Defence Review 2/1999 for UN peacekeeping purposes and estab- known and highly visible project. The fore, both successes and failures of the lished in the former Eastern Bloc. The com- Battalion has become a symbolic expres- BALTBAT project were perceived to have bination of these features was making the sion of the determination of the Baltic much wider implications. BALTBAT project more than a politically States to anchor their security in the There was, however, another side to correct undertaking. BALTBAT has em- democratic Europe. At the same time, the BALTBAT than that widely exposed by braced the main concepts of the Partner- political engagement and practical support the mass media. In reality, the establish- ship for Peace ideology and therefore was rendered by the Western countries to ment of a modern Western-type multina- a kind of test case for the PfP itself. BALTBAT was perceived in the Baltics as tional battalion from scratch in the coun- The four Nordic countries, led by a clear indication of their earnest com- tries that basically had no regular armed Denmark, were with the BALTBAT project mitment to support the Baltic nations in forces, was a truly Herculean task. Look- from its early days. Without their sincere this endeavour. ing back to the early days of the project, interest and commitment to support the Stakes were also high on the side of one tends to conclude that even those who project, the Baltic States would not have the supporting states. Many of them have understood the complexities and difficul- been able to start it. The Nordic coun- invested a significant amount of resources ties involved in the project tended to un- tries have also done very much in order into the BALTBAT project. Some appar- derestimate them. Otherwise they prob- to promote the BALTBAT project inter- ently had to go through an intense inter- ably would not have started the project at nationally and soon the US, Great Brit- nal debate before concluding that secu- all. ain, Germany, France and a number of rity of the Baltic States in general and the Difficulties that were arising in the other Western nations decided to join the BALTBAT project in particular was worth process of project implementation were group of supporters of BALTBAT. This spending money on. Furthermore, hav- multiple and some of the problems have was certainly a very encouraging ing become the most visible part of West- remained there for years. Their analysis is beginning.The wide multinational frame- ern security engagement in the Baltic re- beyond the scope of this article but a few work in which BALTBAT found itself was gion, the progress in the development of observations should help the reader to helpful not only for wider distribution the BALTBAT project became important understand the nature of the problems of the financial burden related to the es- indicator as to the success of the Western faced by those who were responsible for tablishment of the Baltic Battalion. It has countries in their security co-operation the implementation of the BALTBAT turned BALTBAT into internationally with the Baltic States in general. There- project. 57 Baltic Defence Review 2/1999 First of all, the militaries in the three BALTBAT until national base for such routines. Those often had to be created Baltic States initially regarded the support was established. In other words, and adopted on a very short notice. BALTBAT project as a purely political the support which the Baltic States were These are only the more general sources creature with exclusively political objec- providing to BALTBAT, be it in terms of the problems faced by both the Baltic tives. For them participation in UN peace- of personnel training or logistic supplies, and Supporting countries in the process keeping operations could hardly be seen could not be much better than the gen- of establishment of the Baltic battalion. a priority task, given the threats, challenges eral level in the national forces and in The nature of these problems suggests that and financial limitations they were facing most cases was below the level required in the start of the project could be some- in the establishment of defence forces in BALTBAT. Therefore the development of what premature and that many of the their respective countries. Therefore the the project was depending on external practical problems could be made less BALTBAT project for the military leader- assistance in almost every aspect starting complicated if the Baltic States had more ship in the Baltic countries primarily as- with English language training and pro- experience of international defence co- sociated with a drain of their very scarce vision with personal munitions, to de- operation and international peacekeeping financial and human resources.