EU, Nato vow action against hybrid threats on Baltic visit

Vilnius: EU and Nato leaders on Sunday vowed to step up cooperation against hybrid threats on a visit to Lithuania dominated by talks on the Belarus migrant crisis and Russia’s military build-up near Ukraine.

Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also repeated his call on Russia to "de-escalate" its military build-up on the border with Ukraine and warned of "costs and consequences" if it used force. The visit by Stoltenberg and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen comes ahead of a meeting of Nato foreign ministers including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Latvia this week. A hybrid threat is a security challenge combining traditional military means and non-military tactics such as disinformation.