Germany's Angela Merkel reaffirms NATO's committment to defend the Baltics

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RIGA (Reuters) - Germany's Angela Merkel promised the Baltic states on Monday that NATO would defend them, although it would not send permanent combat troops but would increase maneuvers in the region.

Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania - former Soviet republics with their own Russian-speaking minorities - are increasingly anxious that the conflict in Ukraine and Russia's annexation of Crimea could herald destabilisation in their own region by Moscow.

The Baltic states have asked for an increased NATO presence to reinforce Article 5 of the alliance's constitution, which states that an attack on one of its members is an act of aggression against all, obliging them to react.

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