This time Germany was not pressured much by its allies. “We will park permanently 4,000 soldiers in Lithuania “To protect the Alliance’s eastern flank.” German Defense Minister Boris PistoriusIn the presence of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and the President of Lithuania, Nauseda Gypsy. That is well above the set of 1,300 soldiers currently on Lithuanian territory, half of which are German, making up NATO’s Ruckla combat group.
Pistorius explained that sending troops is not immediate, but will happen in 2026. However, his statement coincides with preparations for the NATO summit to be held in the United States on July 11-12. Lithuania. A country like any other baltic states, Estonia and LatviaThey demand that the Alliance strengthen its border. Not only because they are neighbors of Russia – in the case of Lithuania, through the Kaliningrad enclave – but also because of the threat from Belarus, where Russia will deploy nuclear weapons on its territory in July, as announced by the Kremlin. Stating that NATO has 300,000 troops ready to intervene in the face of any threat to a member state, Stoltenberg said, “There is no indication that Russia plans to use it.” said. Alliance aircraft patrol the three Baltic states that do not have their own air forces.
Added shadow of the head of the mercenary group to known threats. WagnerEvgeny Prigozhin. “We observe that Belarus has become a haven for war criminals,” Nauseda wrote on Twitter after meeting with his country’s Defense Council on Sunday. As was known at the time, the resignation of the head of the ‘Wagnerians’ in order to continue their march towards Moscow followed a negotiation between Prigozhin and the Belarusian president. Alexander Lukashenko. Theoretically, the proposal included his retirement in Belarus, which opened the door to a number of assumptions about the restructuring of the ‘Wagnerists’ in that country.
defenseless country
Lithuania, a former Soviet republic like Estonia and Latvia, now a member of NATO and the EU, feels particularly vulnerable to Belarus. In February 2022, months before the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, he denounced a “hybrid war” in which thousands participated. refugees were pushed towards the borders of Lithuania, Latvia and Poland by the Lukashenko regime. The migration crisis still continues; Hundreds of these refugees are still stranded in no-man’s land and inhumane conditions, as NGOs on the ground have condemned.
HE hybrid warfare It did not pose a threat to border security. With the offensive war on Ukraine, Lithuania saw the approval of requests for more Western troops on its territory. Germany makes the dispatch of its soldiers conditional on the availability of necessary equipment in Lithuania, including barracks to house a brigade of these characteristics. The framework Pistorius set for himself is realistic—two years. But like Nauseda, Stoltenberg plans to accelerate those plans to 2025.
The appointment to be held in Vilnius this Monday is part of the preparatory meetings for the summit. Stoltenberg’s goal is to reach a summit among 32 members, including Sweden. Since the northern country is a “shelter” for Kurdish terrorists in Ankara, Turkey continues without withdrawing its objection to this article. Stoltenberg wants a new meeting to be held in mid-July to remove obstacles to Turkey’s participation.