Illustrative photo from open sources< /p>
In Berlin on Monday, April 8, a ceremony was held to send the first German military personnel from the Bundeswehr brigade to Lithuania, which will be stationed in this country on a permanent basis. About 20 German military personnel are currently heading to Lithuania.
This year, about 150 German military personnel will go to Lithuania. The formation of the 45th Tank Brigade will officially be completed next year. By 2027, the brigade that will be deployed in the Baltic country is expected to reach its normal size of about 4,800 military personnel and about 200 civilian specialists, DPA reports. They will also have the opportunity to bring their families to Lithuania.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius called April 8 an important day for the Bundeswehr. "This is the first time we are beginning to place such a unit outside Germany on a permanent basis.", he said at the ceremony in Berlin. He also noted that the deployment of a German brigade in Lithuania would strengthen NATO's eastern flank.
Lithuanian Defense Minister Laurynas Kasciunas met the German military at Vilnius airport. "No enemy from the East will even think of testing NATO's Article 5,", — he stated, referring to the article of the North Atlantic Treaty that all NATO countries must come to the aid of a country that comes under attack.
After the Russian annexation of Crimea and the outbreak of the war in Donbass in 2014, NATO countries began to strengthen defense on the so-called eastern flank of the union, that is, in the countries bordering Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. Additional NATO military contingents were stationed in the Baltic countries, but they were not permanent, being deployed on a rotational basis. The German brigade in Lithuania will be the first permanent NATO unit stationed in that country. Previously, it was planned to station a battalion there, but after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, plans changed.
Prepared by: Sergey Daga