Visit to NATO partner
Pistorius assures Lithuania further support
03/06/2023 10:12 p.m
In reaction to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, NATO wants to demonstrate determination in the Baltic States. Germany has increased its troop presence in Lithuania. The military commitment in Lithuania is “NATO’s active alliance solidarity,” said Pistorius on his first visit to the country.
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius promised NATO ally Lithuania further military support from Germany during his first visit. “We stand firmly by the side of our partners and friends,” said Pistorius in the evening in a barracks used by NATO troops in Rukla. “Lithuania’s security is also our security, and that’s why this engagement is so important.”
As a reaction to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, Germany has had a combat brigade ready to defend Lithuania since the autumn of last year. Several hundred German soldiers from the brigade are currently training with the Lithuanian armed forces on site during the “Griffin Lightning” exercise. There are currently around 1,450 soldiers from Germany in Lithuania. There they urged that Germany remain present with as many soldiers as possible and in the long term.
The military commitment in Lithuania is “NATO’s active alliance solidarity,” said Pistorius. The commitment is more important than it has been since the end of the Cold War. “Only with the difference that until the end of the Cold War Germany formed the eastern flank, the Federal Republic, and NATO guaranteed our security. Today it is we who, together with others, including here in Lithuania, protect the eastern flank.”
Pistorius had landed in Kaunas with his delegation in the evening. The first item on the program was a visit to the German deployment contingent of the NATO battle group in Rukla. On Tuesday, the minister plans to monitor the “Griffin Lightning” exercise and hold talks with the government in the capital, Vilnius. After the Russian annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in 2014, suspicion of Russia had grown among NATO’s eastern partners.
This week exercise is to be completed
Even before the Russian attack on Ukraine a year ago, NATO had therefore increased its presence along its eastern flank. The multinational formations should make it clear that an attack would be answered by the entire alliance. During the 2016 NATO summit in Warsaw, the allies decided to strengthen their presence in the eastern part of the alliance with four battalions, stationed in rotation in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. Germany leads the battle group in Lithuania (“framework nation”) and also provides tanks, self-propelled howitzers and anti-aircraft systems.
The combat brigade, which has been available since autumn 2022, is present in Lithuania with an advanced brigade command post and with material. This should make an immediate transfer possible in the event of tension. An exercise in which Lithuanian and German soldiers practice defense against an aggressor is due to be completed this week. The soldiers from Germany had been transferred to the Baltic States since February 20 – by sea, road march through Poland and by plane. The conclusion is a so-called combat shooting, in which “live shots” are practiced for 72 hours.