Lithuania's President Nauseda is demanding "maximum preparedness" from NATO in view of the Ukraine war. After all, his country borders on Russia. Chancellor Scholz now promises to station additional soldiers in the Baltic country.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz has promised Lithuania additional military support to defend against a possible Russian attack. "We are determined that we will increase our contribution," said the SPD politician after talks with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda and the heads of government of all three Baltic states in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius. The German commitment should be developed "in the direction of a robust combat brigade".
"As allies in NATO, we feel obliged to each other and we will defend every inch of NATO territory in the event of an attack," promised Scholz. Initially, he did not give details of the increased German commitment.
Nauseda pointed out that the Baltic states are "on NATO's front lines". "Maximum preparedness and reinforced operational forces in our region are key to the security of the entire alliance." With Russia there should be "no dialogue or cooperation, no appeasement or concessions to this terrorist state". A German-led NATO battalion with 1,600 soldiers is currently stationed in Lithuania - more than 1,000 of whom belong to the Bundeswehr. A brigade usually consists of around 3,000 to 5,000 soldiers.
The Baltic states have been pushing for a NATO brigade to be stationed in each of the three countries for a long time. However, it is unclear how many soldiers are actually to be stationed on site and how many are to be kept ready outside. The final decision on strengthening NATO's eastern flank is expected to be made at the NATO summit in Madrid on June 28-30.
Scholz visited Lithuania for the first time since the beginning of the Ukraine war, a NATO country that borders Russia and feels particularly threatened by the nuclear power. In addition to Nauseda, he met the heads of government of all three Baltic states in the capital - in addition to Lithuania and Latvia, Estonia also belongs to them. The Chancellor then wanted to visit the Bundeswehr soldiers who are stationed in Lithuania to secure NATO's eastern flank.
At the military training area near Prabade, which is less than 200 kilometers as the crow flies from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, Scholz also wanted to get an idea of the Bundeswehr's equipment, which includes armored personnel carriers and battle tanks, heavy artillery and reconnaissance drones. Along with Latvia, Estonia, Poland and Norway, Lithuania is one of the five NATO countries that share a land border with Russia. Missiles are stationed in Kaliningrad that can reach the entire Baltic region, all of Poland and even Berlin.
