The Canadian officer leading a NATO battle group in Latvia said Russian forces would be defeated if they dared to launch an attack against the Canadian forces and their allies stationed in the Baltic Sea country on Russia’s western border. "I think we will win by a fair margin," said Lieutenant Colonel Jesse Van Eeck, head of the enhanced Latvia battle group, in an interview on Wednesday.

The threat also continues in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and tensions escalated on Tuesday when a missile strike killed two people in Poland, another NATO member. There were initial concerns that the missile was launched by Russia, but Poland said on Wednesday that it was possibly fired from air defenses in neighboring Ukraine.

Van Eeck also spoke to the Canadian Press in his modest office in a temporary building at Camp Adazi, the battle group’s base in the middle of a forest about 45 minutes by car from Riga, Latvia’s capital, where the small country was part of the Russian Empire then the Soviet Union, and had to gain its independence twice, most recently in 1991.

Just over 1,200 soldiers from 10 countries, including 700 from Canada, train at Camp Adazi as a unified battle group defending Latvia, and Van Eeck is convinced his forces are better prepared and more experienced than their potential opponents. He said the “expectation is changing," referring to the view of the Russian army as one of the most imposing and best-equipped armies in the world.

Likewise, the commander said all the soldiers under his command underwent rigorous national training and worked hard to integrate into the battle group. He added that they are professional soldiers, and their understanding of tactics and optimal use of resources surpasses that of the Russian soldier.

Van Eeck, who has been deployed in Latvia for five months, stated that NATO has accurate intelligence about Russian forces across the Latvian border — which is only 200 kilometers from Camp Adazi — including their readiness status and even their daily activities.