(ANSA) - VILNIUS, DEC 24 - "Latvia and Italy are aware about the threat Russia poses to peace in Europe. To achieve lasting peace we must be prepared for all scenarios and be able to defend ourselves." This was stated by the chairwoman of the Latvian Parliament, Daiga Mierina, as she welcomed House Speaker Lorenzo Fontana, who arrived in Latvia today to meet with the Italian contingent stationed at the NATO base in Adazi. During the conversation, Mierina called on Italy to support the need for rearmament and development of the European military industry, stressing that such a step would contribute as much to increasing the resilience of the EU and NATO's eastern border as it would to the implementation of the security of the European continent as a whole. "Russia's invasion of Ukraine was a harsh wake-up call for Western Europe. We learned lessons from it and realized that we have to be prepared and ready to defend ourselves," Fontana said in turn. (ANSA).