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Coverage · NATO Eastern Flank

Relationship record

Latvia and the eastern flank — The United States and the eastern flank

The 2017 bilateral framework for the presence and activities of US forces in Latvia, the first of the three Baltic agreements to be signed.

Defence agreement Since 2017-01

Active
Assessed as of
2017-01
Last reviewed
2026-10-29

AssessmentModerate confidence

A described arrangement, not a rating. Vigil publishes no measure of how strong, warm or hostile a relationship is, and no relationship on this site carries a score, a trend or a direction of travel. What is recorded is what the arrangement covers, when it began, what has changed it, and how firmly each of those is established.

Latvia and the eastern flankDefence agreement withThe United States and the eastern flankDefence agreement with
In short

A Defense Cooperation Agreement between the United States and Latvia, signed in January 2017, which sets the legal framework for the presence and activities of US forces in Latvia and underpins the US rotational presence on the Baltic flank. Its exact signature day is not established here.

A symmetric arrangement: it reads the same from either side. Authored once, on one record.

The arrangement

Status
ActiveIn force and operating. Says nothing about how well it is working, or about which way it is heading.
What it covers
DefenceBasingLegal and treatyCategories the arrangement is documented to include. Not a measure: a relationship covering more of them is described in more detail, not held more firmly.

Summary

The United States and Latvia signed a Defense Cooperation Agreement in January 2017, the week before the United States signed its agreements with Estonia and Lithuania. It sets the legal terms for the presence and activities of US forces in Latvia, supplementing the NATO status-of-forces arrangements. It is an access framework, not a stationing decision, and it is separate from the Canadian-led NATO brigade in Latvia.

Why it matters

The Baltic agreements are the legal basis for a US presence that is national and bilateral rather than part of the NATO formations, and the module keeps the two apart.

Agreements

  • US-Latvia Defense Cooperation Agreement · signed 2017-01

    Dated to the month: the sources read give no day. Entry into force is not carried.

What remains unknown

  • The signature day and the date of entry into force were not established from an official text in this pass.
  • Agreed facilities are not enumerated, and no US presence in Latvia is recorded on the strength of the agreement; access is not stationing.

All NATO Eastern Flank relationships Open in Explore

Sensitivity: public-contextual Confidence: Moderate Sources: Established international media reporting · Official government statements Methodology Corrections

Assessed as of — 2017-01 Last reviewed — 2026-10-29