On 6th March, Mr Alexander Vershbow, Deputy Secretary-General of NATO visited the NATO Strategic Communications’ Centre of Excellence during his working visit to the Republic of Latvia. Mr Vershbow was accompanied by Mr Andrew Cullen from the Defence Policy and Planning Division of NATO. Centre Director, Ambassador Janis Karklins and Deputy Director Aivar Jaeski described the current projects of the Centre - research on hybrid warfare, propaganda methodologies and the use of social media as a weapon.
During his visit to Riga, Mr Vershbow participated in the “Inter-parliamentary Conference for the Common Foreign and Security Policy and the Common Security and Defence Policy”, that took place from 4th to 6th March 2015, met the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia, Mr Edgars Rinkēvičs, and the Minister of Defence of the Republic of Latvia, Mr Raimonds Vējonis. Mr Vershbow also visited the Ādaži Military Training Area.
Ambassador Vershbow took up his position in February 2012 after serving three years as the U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defence for International Security Affairs.