Germany’s defense chief said the country is prepared to station a permanent brigade of some 4,000 troops in Lithuania to help shore up NATO’s eastern flank against potential Russian aggression.
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Germany’s defense chief said the country is prepared to station a permanent brigade of some 4,000 troops in Lithuania to help shore up NATO’s eastern flank against potential Russian aggression.
The announcement by Defense Minister Boris Pistorius during a visit to Vilnius on Monday represented a more robust pledge after Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government previously said the German military contingent would operate on a rotational basis.
The conditions for such a presence are an expansion of infrastructure — including barracks and depots — in the Baltic nation of 2.8 million, as well as coordination with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s security plans.
“This will be a considerable effort,” Pistorius said alongside his Lithuanian counterpart, Arvydas Anusauskas. “That’s why we’ve agreed to build up a brigade step by step” along with infrastructure – an effort that will take more than “just a few months.”
Saying the situation in Russia “seems to be very unstable” after mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin’s short-lived mutiny on Saturday, Pistorius also reinforced Germany’s commitment to the security of the Baltic states.
Anusauskas said a German brigade in Lithuania is “our priority.”
“We are ready to continue to work together to reconcile the needs of the German forces to receive a brigade-sized unit as soon as possible,” he added.
–With assistance from Natalia Drozdiak and Kevin Whitelaw.
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