Defense: Pistorius during military maneuvers on NATO’s eastern flank

defense
Pistorius during military maneuvers on NATO’s eastern flank

Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) travels to Lithuania on Monday to watch a joint exercise between the Bundeswehr and the Lithuanian army. During the “Griffin Storm” maneuver, for which 1,000 soldiers from Panzergrenadierbrigade 41 “Vorpommern” were transferred to Lithuania, the defense of NATO’s eastern flank is being trained. The training ground in Pabrade is less than 200 kilometers from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and the ambassadors of the North Atlantic Council, NATO’s most important decision-making body, will observe the maneuver together with Pistorius. Also present are Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda and Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas.

Before visiting the troops, Pistorius and Anusauskas meet in the capital, Vilnius, for talks. The situation in Russia after the aborted uprising of the Wagner mercenary group should be an issue. The federal government has so far kept a low profile.

Lithuania’s president called for strengthening of the eastern flank

It will also deal with the preparations for the NATO summit, which will take place in Vilnius in just under three weeks. The main topic there will be how Ukraine can be brought closer to NATO. There will also be a possible adjustment to the NATO target that each member state should spend two percent of its gross domestic product on defense. The heads of state and government in Vilnius will also discuss further strengthening NATO’s eastern flank.

After the Wagner uprising, Lithuania’s President Gitanas Nauseda called for further strengthening of NATO’s eastern flank. Should Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin end up in exile in Belarus with unclear intentions, the security of the eastern border must be increased, said the head of state. “I’m not just talking about Lithuania here, but about NATO as a whole,” said Nauseda, according to Lithuanian radio. Lithuania borders Belarus and the Russian Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad.

In response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the German government pledged in June 2022 to have a combat troop brigade of around 5,000 soldiers ready to defend Lithuania in the event of an attack. The Panzergrenadierbrigade 41 “Vorpommern” has been available for this purpose since autumn. It is present in Lithuania with a command post and should be able to be transferred to the Baltic country within ten days in the event of a tension.

This is now being practiced for the third time. In addition to around 1,000 soldiers, around 300 tanks and other vehicles were also transferred to Lithuania for the maneuver scheduled for July 7th.

Federal government does not want to permanently station soldiers

The government in Vilnius would like Germany to permanently station the entire brigade in Lithuania and also wants to create the infrastructure for this. The federal government sees it differently. “The idea is that individual troop units, possibly the entire brigade, are repeatedly transferred to Lithuania to practice here. That’s the plan,” said Pistorius during a troop visit to Lithuania in March.

The Bundeswehr has had a presence in Rukla, Lithuania, with several hundred soldiers since 2017. Germany is leading a NATO battle group there with currently around 1,600 soldiers, almost half of whom are from the Bundeswehr.

dpa