During a visit to Lithuania, Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht commissioned the command staff of the German brigade for increased protection on NATO’s eastern flank.
“Lithuania’s security is Germany’s security. It is this promise of common security that we reaffirm today,” she said at a ceremony at Lithuania’s Rukla military base. Germany is to lead a combat troops brigade with 3,000 to 5,000 soldiers for Lithuania.
Together with her Lithuanian counterpart Arvydas Anusauskas, she unveiled the coat of arms of the brigade staff. The command element is already “fully integrated and fully operational,” said the defense minister of the Baltic EU and NATO country. Proof of this is the “Fast Griffin” maneuver, in which German soldiers practiced together with Lithuanian troops.
“Very impressive”: Lambrecht observes maneuvers
Lambrecht then attended the first exercise of the German brigade together with Anusauskas. In the afternoon, she watched the maneuver from a makeshift stand on a military vehicle. “Very impressive,” she said to the officers in charge after the combat exercise.
Around 200 German soldiers and around 50 transport and combat vehicles are involved in the maneuver, which will run until mid-October. Among other things, the cooperation of the armed forces of the two alliance partners is to be practiced.
After the Russian attack on Ukraine, NATO decided to increase protection on the eastern flank. The German concept envisages stationing weapons, ammunition and a command staff on site. This arrived in Rukla at the beginning of September. However, most of the soldiers are kept ready in Germany.
Minister for more NATO protection
Lambrecht called on the Western allies to do more to protect themselves from Russia. “It is clear that we in NATO have to do more for our common security. Because we don’t know how far Putin will push his superpower mania,” said the SPD politician.
“The brutal Russian war of aggression against Ukraine is constantly taking on new dimensions of brutality and ruthlessness,” said Lambrecht. The Kremlin chief is trying to create facts with “illegal and anti-democratic bogus referendums”.
Lithuania borders the Russian Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad and Russia’s ally Belarus. The Baltic state in north-eastern Europe has been the location of a German-led NATO battalion with around 1,600 soldiers since 2017. More than half of them belong to the Bundeswehr.
Letter of intent on air defense system announced
A declaration of intent on the European air defense system envisaged by Chancellor Olaf Scholz is to be signed next week on the sidelines of the NATO defense ministers’ meeting in Brussels. Lambrecht announced this after her meeting with Anusauskas.
Scholz had declared his intention at the end of August to build a new defense system with European neighbors. The project is seen as a response to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. Lithuania welcomes the initiative. “We will participate – no doubt,” said Defense Minister Anusauskas. The Ukraine war shows that airspace security is “one of the most important elements of security”.
“Other states have confirmed that they are interested in this,” said Lambrecht without becoming more specific. “I hope that there will be more to come. Because it would be a very important sign that we coordinate this air defense interoperably with each other, where we currently have gaps.”
