President Obama: ‘With NATO, you will never lose it (independence) again’

“The defence of Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius is just as
important as the defence of Berlin and Paris and London,” Obama said in
his speech in the Estonian capital.

“We will be here for Latvia. We will be
here for Lithuania. You lost your independence once before. With NATO, you will
never lose it again,” the US president said.

He emphasized that NATO is not targeted
against other countries but established for collective defence, and the Baltic
membership only made the Alliance stronger.

“Our NATO Alliance is not aimed against
any other nation. We’re an alliance of democracies dedicated to our own
collective defence. Countries like Estonia and Latvia and Lithuania are not
post-Soviet territory. You’re sovereign and independent nations with a right to
make your own decisions,” said Obama.

“We will defend our NATO Allies, and
that means every Ally. In this alliance, there are no old members or new
members, no junior partners or senior partners. They’re just Allies, pure and
simple, and we will defend the territorial integrity of every single
Ally,” said the US president.