Vice President Mike Pence on Monday reaffirmed America's commitment to NATO, and pledged that the United States will come to the defense of member countries that are attacked.
"Under President Donald Trump, the United States stands firmly behind our Article 5 pledge of mutual defense — an attack on one of us is an attack on us all," Pence said in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, the Associated Press reports.
Article 5 is the commitment of NATO members to come to the defense of one another. An attack on one NATO ally is treated as an attack on all member countries.
Pence was in Tallinn meeting with the presidents of Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia. The three Baltic states were controlled by the Soviet Union for decades and are concerned that Russia would consider invading them again, much like Russia's actions in Ukraine.
"A strong and united NATO is more necessary today than at any point since the collapse of communism a quarter-century ago and no threat looms larger in the Baltic states than the specter of aggression from your unpredictable neighbor to the east," Pence said at a news conference with the three Baltic presidents.
Pence was optimistic in his meeting with the three presidents, according to Politico.
"The United States stands with the nations and people of the Baltic States — and we always will. We stand with our NATO allies in our commitment to your security," Pence said at the headquarters of Estonia's defense forces. "Today we stand where East meets West — on a great frontier of freedom."