Germany plans ‘permanent’ force in Lithuania to strengthen Nato’s eastern flank
Germany will establish a permanent presence of around 4,000 troops in Lithuania in a bid to strengthen Nato’s eastern flank against Russia, the country’s defence minister has said.
Speaking on a visit to Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital, Boris Pistorius agreed to a longstanding demand from the Baltic state to expand its current military deployment in the country.
“Germany is ready to permanently station a robust brigade in Lithuania,” Pistorius said, while stressing that it was necessary to build the required infrastructure first. “We are talking about a brigade with 4,000 soldiers, with the corresponding materiel, vehicles and everything that goes with it,” he said, adding that it would take “more than a few months”.
The move is an attempt by Berlin, which has promised a Zeitenwende or “turning point” in its role in European defence and security after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, to scale up its commitments amid repeated calls from Nato’s Baltic member states to strengthen its eastern flank.
“We expressly acknowledge our responsibility, our obligation as a Nato member state, as the largest economy in Europe, to stand up for the protection of the eastern flank,” said Pistorius, who was visiting Lithuania on Monday along with Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg to watch a German-led military exercise.
Nato describes such deployments on its eastern flank as “rotational”, meaning that individual soldiers are temporarily deployed at bases but the overall presence is maintained in a permanent fashion.
“This is a very strong announcement by the German government . . . consistent with what has been agreed in the past,” said Gabrielius Landsbergis, Lithuanian’s foreign minister. “We are very much interested in details, how fast it is possible [to deploy].
“We very much value German commitment [and] acknowledgment that the eastern flank [of Nato] needs to be strengthened,” he added.
Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia repeated calls over the weekend for Nato countries to improve their defence plans for the Baltic countries as Russian president Vladimir Putin faced an armed insurrection led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner mercenary group.
Lithuanian president Gitanas Nausėda said that if Prigozhin moved to Belarus as planned it would strengthen the case for bolstering the borders of Lithuania, which shares a 680km frontier with Russia’s ally.
Pistorius described the situation in Russia as “very unstable” but said it was difficult to assess the potential impact of the transfer of Wagner fighters to Belarus.
Standing alongside Pistorius, Nausėda said he had also asked Germany, the Netherlands and France for a rotational deployment of air defence systems in Lithuania.
The Bundeswehr, Germany’s federal army, has led a multinational battlegroup in Lithuania since Nato set up an “enhanced forward presence” in eastern countries in 2017. It is comprised of around 1,600 soldiers from Nato member states, including around 1,000 German troops.
After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Berlin last year promised to keep a combat brigade of around 3,000-5,000 troops on standby in Germany ready to defend the Baltic nation, which it said could be deployed within about 10 days. As part of that commitment, parts of a brigade command post were permanently stationed in Rukla, about 100km from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.
But German officials had previously deflected calls for a large permanent German deployment in the country.
Berlin’s decision to step up its commitments comes ahead of a gathering of Nato leaders in Vilnius next month, with eastern states pushing for a clear path to membership of the alliance for Ukraine. Germany, along with the US, has been deeply wary of that idea, with Chancellor Olaf Scholz arguing last week that Nato member states should instead focus on military support for Kyiv.
Germany plans to expand weapons deliveries to Kyiv. Brigadier General Christian Freuding, who heads the defence ministry’s Ukraine task force, told the broadsheet Welt am Sonntag on Sunday that Berlin would deliver up to 30 more Gepard anti-aircraft tanks to the Ukrainian armed forces, adding to around 50 that have either been sent or committed to the country.
Germany also intends to buy up to 330,000 rounds of 155mm artillery ammunition in the coming years, of which around 20,000 rounds will be earmarked for Ukraine, according to a person familiar with the plans.
Source: Financial Times
