armed forces
The Lithuanian Brigade’s advance command departs for the Baltics
For the Lithuanians, Germany’s deployment of troops is a desired reassurance of NATO’s obligation to provide assistance. photo
© Matthias Balk/dpa
The federal government wants to permanently relocate up to 5,000 German soldiers to Lithuania and contribute to deterrence. An incident command is now leaving for the eastern NATO country.
With the transfer of an incident command to In Lithuania, the Bundeswehr is taking another important step towards permanently stationing a combat brigade on NATO’s eastern external border. Defense Minister Boris Pistorius wants to commission around 20 soldiers today, as the Defense Ministry announced in Berlin. They are also intended to create conditions for the transfer of additional soldiers.
In response to the changed security situation in Europe, the Federal Government has agreed to relocate a combat unit to Lithuania that is ready for combat and able to act independently. According to the timetable, the brigade should be operational by 2027. A permanent presence of around 4,800 soldiers and around 200 civilian Bundeswehr members who can bring their families with them is planned.
The Defense Ministry in Berlin announced that the incident command was traveling to Lithuania together with the army inspector, Lieutenant General Alfons Mais. In Vilnius, the first forces of the Lithuania Brigade would be welcomed by the recently appointed Lithuanian Defense Minister Laurynas Kasciunas.
Pistorius: “Historic moment”
The incident command is expected to grow to a formation staff of around 150 men and women by the fourth quarter of 2024. The army brigade will be reorganized in Lithuania with the name Panzerbrigade 45. After the brigade is officially commissioned in 2025, the additional forces are expected to begin deployment that year, provided the required infrastructure is available in Lithuania.
Pistorius signed a policy document for the deployment in Vilnius in December and spoke of a “historic moment”. The brigade’s main deployment location will be the Rudninkai military training area, not far from the border with Belarus. According to Lithuanian information, around 80 percent of the soldiers are based there. The remainder will be stationed in Rukla in the center of the country.
Reinsurance of the NATO assistance obligation
We will be watching with interest to see whether and how the Lithuanians are making progress with the creation of the promised infrastructure. This includes military areas and barracks as well as apartments and houses. The soldiers and their families will live in Vilnius and Kaunas, where a school and a kindergarten are to be built. The Lithuanian government had pushed for the stationing. A special commission had already been set up to prepare it, and since the end of March a deputy minister in the Ministry of Defense has been responsible for the brigade’s reception.
Lithuania borders Russia’s ally Belarus and Russia’s Baltic Sea enclave of Kaliningrad. A narrow land corridor runs between the two countries from Lithuania west to Poland – NATO’s so-called Suwalki Gap, over which fighting could break out in the event of an attack. For the Lithuanians, Germany’s deployment of troops is a desired reassurance of NATO’s obligation to provide assistance. In surveys, the vast majority of the population supports the permanent presence of German soldiers.