“Germany is ready to permanently station a robust brigade in Lithuania,” Pistorius said during a visit to the Lithuanian capital Vilnius. Facilities would need to be built to accommodate the troops, according to the German defence minister.
🇩🇪 ist bereit, eine robuste Brigade dauerhaft in #Litauen zu stationieren. Voraussetzung sind eine entsprechende Infrastruktur, zum Beispiel Kasernen, und eine flexible Kompatibilität mit der #NATO-Planung, so Minister #Pistorius in seinem Statement. pic.twitter.com/kpI07nzLVp
— Verteidigungsministerium (@BMVg_Bundeswehr) June 26, 2023
Lithuania has repeatedly called on Germany to place combat troops in the country that borders the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad. Germany pledged in June 2022 to have a full brigade ready to defend Lithuania in case of an attack.
Until now, however, Berlin had resisted permanently stationing most of the brigade in Lithuania, insisting that the troops could be rapidly deployed from bases in Germany.
Currently, only the brigade’s command post with about 20 German soldiers are in Rukla, Lithuania. The rest remain at various locations within Germany. Other German troops are in Lithuania as part of a German-led NATO battle group.
