(Photo: Mindaugas Kulbis, AP)
President Obama reassured the Baltic nations Wednesday that the United States and other NATO allies will defend them from the kind of Russian aggression on exhibit in nearby Ukraine.
"We will defend the territorial integrity of every single (NATO) ally," Obama told an audience in Tallinn, Estonia.
Obama used the speech to denounce Russian aggression in eastern Ukraine, calling it a "brazen assault on the territory" of that nation.
"Borders cannot be redrawn at the barrel of a gun," he said.
Ukraine is not a NATO member, and the U.S. and European allies are not obligated to defend it.
The Baltic states — Latvia and Lithuania as well as Estonia — have expressed concern about Russian aggression, and they have been NATO members for a decade.
Obama stressed the common defense requirements of the NATO alliance in a speech he delivered after meeting with the leaders of all three Baltic states.
Referring to the capital cities of the Baltic nations, Obama said that "the defense of Tallinn and Riga and Vilnius is just as important as the defense of Berlin and Paris and London."
Obama spoke shortly after a proposed cease-fire between Ukraine, Russia and pro-Russian separatists fell apart.
Thew speech capped a brief presidential visit to Estonia en route to a NATO summit in Wales, where Russia's incursion into Ukraine — and its impact throughout Eastern Europe — will be major topics.
Obama hopes to reassure NATO allies on European trip
NATO allies also plan to discuss the threat of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. The United States is conducting air strikes against IS in Iraq and considering possible action in Syria.
During his speech in Tallinn, Obama combined criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin along with praise for how the Baltic nations broke away from the Soviet Union a quarter-century ago.
Democratic gains throughout Eastern Europe are threatened by Russia's aggression in Ukraine, Obama said, and the world must confront. At one point, Obama said that "we'll be here for Estonia," telling citizens that "you lost your independence once before. With NATO, you will never lose it again."
