US Vice President Joe Biden told Baltic leaders on Tuesday not to take seriously comments by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump that called into question the US commitment to protect Nato allies in the face of Russian aggression. On a trip to Latvia, Biden suggested Trump, who has never held elected office, did not understand Nato's mutual defence guarantee, known as Article Five.
"I want to make it absolutely clear to all the people in Baltic states: we have pledged our sacred honour, the United States of America ... to the Nato treaty and Article Five," Biden, a Democrat, said in the Latvian capital. "The fact that you occasionally hear something from a presidential candidate in the other party, it's ... nothing that should be taken seriously," Biden said. Biden's visit comes amid heightened tensions with Russia in the region and some nervousness among allies about Trump, who has suggested he might abandon Nato's pledge to defend all alliance members automatically if elected.
Both Democrats and Republicans supported the Nato pledge, said Biden, who made his remarks during an appearnace with the leaders of all three Baltic states in Riga. "There is continued overwhelming bipartisan commitment in the United States of America in both political parties to maintain our commitment to Nato," he said. Trump is running against Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, who has also affirmed her commitment to Nato. Clinton is ahead in polls. Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, the three Baltic states which regained independence in the early 1990s a half century after being annexed by the Soviet Union, see themselves on the frontline of any potential conflict with Russia.