Canada is considering sending reinforcements to eastern Europe because of the security situation, Defence Minister Anita Anand said during a visit to Latvia on Thursday.

"We are examining options to reinforce in Eastern Europe as a whole," Anand said.

The minister visited the Adazi base where Canada head up a NATO battle group.

Canada has around 500 soldiers in Latvia.

Anand said it was Canada's "largest foreign military deployment".

The US on Wednesday announced it was sending a total of 3,000 soldiers to bolster NATO forces in eastern Europe in response to Russia's troop build-up around Ukraine.

"I am very concerned about Russian aggression towards Ukraine," Anand said, adding: "We take very seriously the protection of NATO's eastern front".

Canada supports and trains Ukraine's military through operation UNIFIER, launched in 2015.

On a visit Sunday to Kyiv, Anand said Canada would be moving its Ukraine-based military units to the west of the country and would withdraw all non-essential embassy staff.

Latvian Defence Minister Artis Pabriks said his country was "preparing its military instructors to join Operation UNIFIER".

NATO decided to deploy battle groups on a rotational basis to eastern members Poland and the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania following Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014.

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