Germany to send troops to Lithuania to bolsters NATO’s new frontline

Germany says it is ready to permanently station a brigade of 4000 troops in Lithuania as part of NATO’s plan to strengthen the defences of the alliance’s eastern flank.

Ukrainian servicemen check their T-72 tank at a position in the Donetsk region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Picture: AFP

Germany says it is ready to permanently station a brigade of 4000 troops in Lithuania as part of NATO’s plan to strengthen the defences of the alliance’s eastern flank.

Its decision threatens to put pressure on Britain, which prefers not to have permanently stationed brigades, before a NATO summit in the Lithuanian capital of ­ Vilnius in two weeks’ time.

Until now, Germany and other allies had rejected calls from Lithuania or Estonia for permanently stationed brigades, saying troops could be rapidly deployed from other NATO bases.

Ukraine Army recruits in a training session with members of Britain's Royal Marines at a training base in southern England last week. Picture: AFP

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said the U-turn had come after an acceptance that Lithuania was a new frontline with Russia, as West Germany had been with the Soviet Union’s Iron Curtain in the Cold War.  “We were the ones who could always rely on NATO partners standing by our side in an emergency and stepping in and fighting with us for our freedom and security in Germany. And we … commit ourselves explicitly to our responsibility and our obligation, as a NATO member state and as the largest economy in Europe, to stand up for the protection of the eastern flank,” he said.

The Baltic states and Poland fear having an “unpredictable and very dangerous neighbour” as Vladimir Putin’s regime cracks.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said NATO’s eastern flank would need to be reinforced. He said the weekend’s mutiny showed how events could be fast-moving in terms of military developments and a possible war.

“It is very, very dangerous to be left in a grey zone,” he said.

The Times