Italy to send 140 troops to Nato mission in Latvia

ROME: Italy will send about 140 troops to join a Nato mission in Latvia set up to boost defences against a possible Russian attack, Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said on Friday. The Western defence alliance agreed in July to deploy military forces in the Baltic states and eastern Poland for the first time and increase air and sea patrols, to reassure its allies after Russia seized Crimea from neighbouring Ukraine.