“Feel like West Berlin”
Lithuania is urging the stationing of German troops to hurry
8/12/2023 8:47 am
Berlin Vilnius has already promised that 4,000 Bundeswehr soldiers are to reinforce NATO’s eastern flank in Lithuania. As far as the deployment schedule is concerned, the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is now calling for speed. The country is also willing to make “significant investments” for this.
Lithuania has called on the federal government to hurry up with regard to the promised stationing of 4,000 Bundeswehr soldiers on NATO’s eastern flank. “We should now concentrate on agreeing on an ambitious and rapid timetable for full deployment,” Lithuanian Deputy Foreign Minister Jonas Survila told Welt am Sonntag. Vilnius is ready to make “significant investments in the infrastructure needed to accommodate the German troops,” he added.
The politician drew a historical comparison with regard to the war in Ukraine. “Today we feel like West Berlin during the Cold War: surrounded by aggressive neighbors from both the West, Kaliningrad, Russia, and the East, Belarus,” said Survila.
“Back then, the security of West Berlin was ensured, among other things, by the fact that a garrison the size of a US Army brigade was stationed in the city, the Berlin Brigade. Today we ask the Germans, both symbolically and practically, to contribute to security by permanently station a combat-ready German brigade in Lithuania,” Survila said.
At the end of June, Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius announced the permanent transfer of 4,000 Bundeswehr soldiers to NATO partner country Lithuania in order to protect NATO’s eastern flank. Prerequisites are “the appropriate infrastructure” on site and “compatibility with NATO plans,” emphasized the defense minister.