Lithuania will ask the United States to permanently station troops in the country to help boost security amid Russia tensions, Reuters has reported.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda spoke on Wednesday after welcoming a new rotation of the German-led NATO Enhanced Forward Presence battle group, deployed in 2017.
Since 2019, the US has deployed non-overlapping rotations of its own groups of around 500 troops and equipment in Lithuania, adding to NATO’s efforts to deter Russia in the region.
“Of course, we will be talking to the US to make sure that the rotational US forces would be in Lithuania permanently,” Reuters quoted Nausėda as saying while visiting Lithuania’s Rukla military base.
“That would be the best boost to security and deterrence that NATO could provide not only to Lithuania but to the whole region,” the president added.
In recent weeks, Western allies have been strengthening defence capabilities in Eastern Europe in response to Russia amassing some 130,000 troops near its border with Ukraine.
Earlier this week, German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht said that her country would send up to 350 more soldiers to Lithuania to help strengthen NATO's eastern flank.
The United Kingdom also said that it would send 350 additional troops to Poland, while the US is deploying 3,000 extra troops in Poland and Romania.
“Strong deterrence and defence, combined with dialogue and diplomacy, is key to keeping our nations safe in a more contested world, as we again face Russia's aggressive rhetoric and force posture,” Nausėda said in Rukla.
Read more: Germany to deploy more troops to Lithuania, others to follow
Newsletter
Every Friday morning.
