Baltic Conservatives Court Republicans With 12-Point Security Agenda

Laurynas Kasčiūnas, chairman of the Homeland Union, Lithuania's largest opposition party, and Urmas Reinsalu, leader of Estonia's Isamaa party, addressed a joint letter to Joe Gruters, chairman of the Republican National Committee, along with RNC members nationwide. The letter, timed to coincide with the 250th anniversary of American independence, frames itself as a blueprint for reorienting U.S.-Baltic relations at a moment when the Trump administration's security posture toward the region has created anxiety on NATO's eastern flank [POLITICO]^[1].

The letter outlines a 12-point plan the authors call the "Baltic-American Spring," centered on a request that U.S. troops be permanently stationed in the region at brigade level, rotating across all three Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The Baltic countries propose to absorb all associated costs, including infrastructure, fuel, food, and medical services. The proposal also calls for joint nuclear deterrence initiatives and cooperative defense ventures, areas that implicate Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty and longstanding U.S. commitments under NATO's Enhanced Forward Presence framework. Beyond the military dimension, the signatories call for a joint Baltic conservative think tank in Washington, a Baltic-American Chamber of Commerce, and Baltic media centers in the United States.

Kasčiūnas served as Lithuania's Minister of National Defence from March 25, 2024, to Dec. 11, 2024. He was elected chairman of the Homeland Union on Feb. 9, 2025, receiving 78% of the vote. Reinsalu served as Estonia's Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2022 to 2023, and previously from 2019 to 2021. He is the current leader of Estonia's Isamaa party. Both lawmakers now operate in opposition within their respective parliaments, giving the initiative the character of a party-to-party diplomatic approach rather than an official government communication.

The decision to address the RNC directly reflects a calculated political choice. According to POLITICO, Baltic officials made a deliberate effort to reach Republicans broadly in order to build support for eastern flank deterrence after the Trump administration moved to reduce security assistance to the region [POLITICO]. That reduction has concrete statutory dimensions. The Department of Defense informed European countries that military support under Section 333 of Title 10, U.S. Code, which authorizes security cooperation funding for partner nations, would be cut to zero beginning in fiscal year 2026. Lithuania had received $200.3 million in Section 333 funding between fiscal years 2018 and 2022, while Latvia and Estonia together received $360.2 million between fiscal years 2018 and 2021. In September 2025, all three Baltic parliaments wrote jointly to Congress, requesting that lawmakers preserve the Baltic Security Initiative in both the fiscal year 2026 Defense Appropriations Bill and the National Defense Authorization Act.

The new RNC-focused letter operates in parallel with legislative activity on Capitol Hill. Earlier in 2026, Representatives Wesley Bell, Salud Carbajal, and Don Bacon introduced the Baltic Security Assessment Act of 2025, a bipartisan measure that would require the Secretary of State, in coordination with the Secretary of Defense, to deliver a comprehensive threat assessment to Congress within 180 days covering military, cyber, hybrid, and political threats to Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The House Baltic Caucus currently counts 70 Democrats and 61 Republicans among its members. The caucus composition illustrates the political asymmetry Kasčiūnas and Reinsalu are attempting to correct: Baltic security advocacy has traditionally drawn stronger support from Democrats, and the two conservative lawmakers are now making an explicit appeal to the Republican base and its party infrastructure.

The Baltic states collectively plan to spend approximately 6.3 billion euros on defense in 2025, equivalent to roughly 3 to 4% of their combined gross domestic product, nearly three times their pre-2022 level, with all three states projected to exceed 5% of GDP in defense expenditures the following year. That spending trajectory gives the letter's authors a direct rebuttal to burden-sharing arguments that have animated Republican skepticism of European security commitments. The initiative was timed to coincide with the 250th anniversary of American independence, and the two leaders described a permanent U.S. military presence as the primary deterrent on NATO's eastern flank. Whether the RNC responds, and whether the letter produces measurable movement in Republican congressional support for restoring Section 333 funding or endorsing permanent basing, will be the operative test of the strategy.