Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Lithuania’s President Gitanas Nausėda visit the NATO Enhanced Forward Presence Battle Group in Pabradė
Image: dpa
Chancellor Olaf Scholz promises during his visit to the Baltic States that Germany is ready to lead a “robust and combat-ready brigade” in Lithuania. That goes down well. Nevertheless, hesitation is held against him.
An the eastern flank of NATO, the heavy German weapons are also ready. At the Pabradė military training area in Lithuania, the Chancellor looks around: there is a Panzerhaubitze 2000 in the dust, a Leopard 2 tank, a Marder infantry fighting vehicle, a Buffalo armored recovery vehicle, a reconnaissance vehicle and also a drone. In front of them Bundeswehr soldiers with camouflage paint on their faces. Olaf Scholz’s program includes a visit to the command of the so-called NATO Enhanced Forward Presence Battle Group in Lithuania, the battle group is led by the Germans. Scholz goes to the soldiers and they briefly explain to him what their weapons can do. The chancellor nods and says: “Thank you very much for your commitment.” Then we continue.
On Tuesday, the Chancellor traveled to Lithuania for the first time since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and thus to a region where people feel particularly threatened by Moscow. In the Baltic States, in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, Moscow was viewed much more critically than in Germany even before the war. The three small states have learned their lessons from their long history as part of the Soviet Union. You had warned about Moscow and also about the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. You were right.