US President Barack Obama arrived in Estonia aboard Air Force One early Wednesday to meet Baltic leaders and reaffirm Washington`s commitment to the security of ex-Soviet NATO members.
The talks in Tallinn come ahead of the key alliance summit in Wales focused on the crisis in Ukraine.
Russia on Tuesday declared NATO a major “threat” after the Western military alliance announced plans to reinforce defences in eastern Europe because of the Kremlin`s perceived stoking of war in Ukraine.
Obama`s plane landed at 6:30 am (0330 GMT) in the capital of the small Baltic nation of Estonia which joined NATO in 2004.
Ahead of the visit the White House said Obama`s mission in Estonia, where he will also meet the leaders of Latvia and Lithuania, is simple — to put Russia on notice that it must not attempt the kind of intimidation and infiltration of NATO`s former Soviet members that it has carried out in Ukraine, a non-NATO member.
“NATO has played a leading role and produced ample evidence to indicate that Russia has intervened in ways that grossly violate the territorial integrity of the independent nation of Ukraine,” said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.
“It`s not OK for large countries to flagrantly violate the territorial integrity of their smaller neighbours.”
In Tallinn Obama will deliver a highly symbolic speech later Wednesday.