Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited a military base outside the Latvian capital of Riga, where he announced the early renewal of Canada’s military contribution to NATO’s deterrence mission known as Operation Reassurance.

This comes one year before it was scheduled to end.

The federal cabinet has extended indefinitely the mandate for the deployment of hundreds of Canadian soldiers in Latvia in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Trudeau was joined by Defence Minister Anita Anand as well as his Latvian and Spanish counterparts for a tour of the military base where they also met with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to discuss the invasion.

”This is a moment for friends and allies to stand together.  And that’s exactly what we’re doing,” said Trudeau.

”We’re not just standing up for territorial integrity … We’re also standing up for the principles and values underlying our friendship and societies.”

In Lativa, Canada leads a 10-country battle group; one of four NATO established in the Baltics and Poland after Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.