Operation Reassurance

Operation Reassurance (OpRe) is an initiative of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) which dates from 2014, when NATO partners "agreed upon and began to enact a series of military measures on 16 April 2014",[1] in response to the February 2014 annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation.

[3] Under Minister of Defence Harjit Sajjan on 22 August 2016 soldiers from the 3rd Canadian Division departed for OpRe on "as part of the Government of Canada’s ongoing commitment to Eastern Europe".

[3] In 2017, 540 members of the CAF were deployed to a base near Riga, Latvia, to establish a NATO battlegroup,[4] whose certification exercise was conducted in August of that year.

[4] On 9 March 2022 Trudeau joined NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Latvian Prime Minister Arturs Krisjanis Karins in Oviedo, Asturias, to announce the early renewal of the OpRe Latvian troop commitment.

[9] The size of the Canadian-led battlegroup numbered in February 2022 around 1,400 troops and included soldiers from Spain, Poland, Italy, Slovakia, Czechia, Slovenia, Albania and Montenegro.