Hungary to join Baltic air-policing mission

In her words, the proposals came during the NATO summit that ended in Chicago on Monday.

"This NATO summit featured a breakthrough – declaration of Hungarian support, they want to join the mission with their fighter jets, the Netherlands are also seriously considering the possibility of participating. Luxembourg offered a financial contribution, it's talking about 1 million euros," said the minister.

Dutch aviators have served one shift in the NATO air-policing mission in the first half of 2005 but did not return to Šiauliai afterwards.

NATO member-nations started sending their aviators and jets to guard the Baltic air ever since the three Baltic nations of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia entered into the Alliance in March of 2004.

Since then, patrol missions have been performed by Belgian, Danish, Czech, British, Spanish, US, Polish, Hungarian, Norwegian, Dutch, Portuguese, French, Romanian, Turkish, and German contingents.

Currently, Polish airmen and jets are serving in the mission stationed in the Lithuanian Air Force Aviation Base in Šiauliai, northern Lithuania.

Back in early February, NATO decided to extend the air-policing mission that had been mandated until 2014. Ambassadors then formally confirmed in Brussels that it would be a long-term mission with periodic reviews, while the Baltic nations committed themselves to increasing their contribution. The February document is confidential, but according to information available to BNS, it says that the mission review should take place after 2018.

Extension of the mission was approved at the Chicago summit. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Sunday that leaders of the Alliance's member-nations had decided to not link the mission to specific dates, adding that the agreement could be reviewed.

US President Barack Obama said in his turn that the extension showed "commitment to collective defense."