German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said work to establish a Bundeswehr brigade in Lithuania, a fellow member of NATO, is on track, during a visit on Wednesday.
“The deployment of the brigade is progressing consistently and according to plan,” he said in comments that came after he met his Lithuanian counterpart Dovile Sakaliene. “We are on schedule.”
In the second quarter, further troop units and equipment are to follow the advance unit stationed on site and the brigade is to be officially put into service, under the plan.
The aim is to have a brigade staff capable of command and training on site in the course of the year, Pistorius said.
The Kremlin’s ongoing, full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly three years ago radically altered European security architecture, driving many nations to spend significantly more on defence.
Amid the war, Berlin pledged to permanently station a combat-ready and independently capable combat unit in Lithuania, aiming to be operational by 2027.
A permanent presence of up to 5,000 soldiers is planned, with the main location being a new barracks facility with a military training area in Rudninkai.
However, a temporary solution in Lithuanian barracks near the capital Vilnius is planned first. “These are huge challenges,” said Pistorius, who visited the Rokantiskes base to see the existing infrastructure and met soldiers set to deploy there.
For the Lithuanian government and herself, the German brigade is the “top one” in terms of the focus of their work, Sakaliene said. “We have emphasised several times that it is vital for us and we will do everything we can to ensure that this process runs smoothly.”
Lithuania, an EU and NATO member which shares borders with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad and Moscow’s ally Belarus, views the Ukraine war as a direct threat to national security.
Currently, the country spends just over 3% of GDP on defence, exceeding the NATO spending target of 2%. From next year onwards, Lithuanian defence spending is to remain between 5% and 6%.
During his visit, Pistorius also recalled the German crimes committed during World War II. He commemorated the victims of the German occupation and the Holocaust and laid a wreath together with Sakaliene.
“For me personally, this is a very, very important sign,’ said Pistorius. During the German occupation, around 120,000 people were shot by Nazis and Lithuanian helpers in Paneriai between 1941 and 1944.
German Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius (C) visits the barracks in Rokantiskes with Commander of the brigade Christoph Huber. Kay Nietfeld/dpa
