WASHINGTON DC -- The US Congress has approved $200 million in security assistance for the Baltic states as Russian activity along NATO’s eastern flank intensifies.
The funding, approved this week as part of the Fiscal Year 2026 Defense Appropriations Act secures continued US backing for Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania under the Baltic Security Initiative (BSI).
The $838.7 billion defense package, signed by President Donald Trump on February 3, locks in funding for security cooperation with the three Baltic states despite earlier attempts inside the Pentagon to eliminate it.
An additional $10 million was allocated to Estonia through the Foreign Military Financing program under the overseas missions budget, funding Tallinn has previously used to acquire HIMARS ammunition, Javelin missiles, and large-caliber artillery shells.
"This is great for deterrence for our Baltic allies,” Republican Congressman Don Bacon (R-NE), a retired Air Force brigadier general and co-chair of the House Baltic Caucus, told RFE/RL.
SEE ALSO: As NATO Mulls Response To Trespassing Russian Warplanes, Can It Shoot Them Down?He added that the issue became a priority after the Defense Department signaled its intention to defund the program.
“Congress is committed to a strong NATO alliance, and we know that extra emphasis is needed in regard to the Baltics,” he said, added that history shows the dangers of retreating from global engagement.
“Most in Congress are committed to NATO and know we need friends to counter China, Russia and Iran. We cannot do it alone. America alone is America weaker,” Bacon said.
The three Baltic countries, all NATO members and firm supporters of Ukraine, have seen violations of their territory by Russian planes or drones in recent months.
Highlighting heightened tensions, three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets entered Estonian airspace over the Gulf of Finland in September and remained there for approximately 12 minutes.
That incident prompted Tallinn to request an extraordinary meeting of the UN Security Council and the activation of Article 4 of the Atlantic Treaty, which provides for consultations between allies in the event of a threat to one of its members.
Bacon noted that Russia's war against Ukraine, weeks away from its fourth anniversary, is a threat beyond Ukraine's borders. He sayd the outcome of the conflict, Europe's largest and deadliest since World War II, will directly shape the security environment for the Baltic states and other vulnerable neighbors.
“If Ukraine falls,” he said, “we should know with certainty that Moldova will be next,” followed by mounting pressure on the Baltics and Georgia in the Caucasus.
“We should not be neutral,” Bacon said. “We should stand on the side of freedom…and against a dictator thug.”
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For Baltic leaders, the congressional vote approving the funding is more than just a budgetary decision.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys, speaking to RFE/RL during a visit to Washington on February 4, underscores the reality that the region is NATO’s front line.
“The decision is very political in its essence,” Budrys said, describing it as evidence of strong transatlantic ties and of Baltic commitments to invest in US-made defense capabilities.
Budrys also pointed to the broader security environment facing the region, including Russian and Belarusian hybrid operations.
He said Lithuania and its neighbors are accumulating experience in countering tactics ranging from cyber and information warfare to the instrumentalization of migration and disruptive actions against civil aviation.
SEE ALSO: EU 'Democracy Shield' Aims To Counter Russian Disinformation“We should expect that it will come in new forms tomorrow or the day after tomorrow,” he warned, describing hybrid pressure as a persistent feature of the West's new security reality.
Bipartisan Signal
Kristen Taylor, associate director of the Atlantic Council’s Transatlantic Security Initiative, told RFE/RL the legislation comes at a moment of heightened urgency, as Russian activity along NATO’s eastern flank intensifies.
“This funding is designed to support interoperability efforts and enhance military capabilities for Baltic allies,” Taylor said.
More importantly, she added, it gives a measure of reassurance to allies who have grown uneasy about Washington's commitment to its European allies.
The Defense Appropriations Act passed the House by a razor-thin 217–214 margin and cleared the Senate with a more comfortable 71–29 vote before being signed into law by President Donald Trump.