Germany’s ambassador to Lithuania has rejected accusations that Berlin is backtracking from its commitment to the Baltic country’s defence.
At a recent NATO summit, Germany has agreed to lead a brigade dedicated to defending Lithuania. A debate has erupted since then whether the brigade would be physically stationed in Lithuania.
Read more: All agree to seek German brigade’s full deployment in Lithuania – chief of defence
“Any idea that by expressing discontent Germany could be pressured or bullied [into deploying a brigade], and that is a confident prediction, will not bring one single additional German soldier to Lithuania,” Matthias Sonn said during a Lithuania-Germany conference at the Lithuanian Seimas on Monday.
During a discussion in English, the ambassador stressed that the public debate on Germany’s commitment to deploy a brigade in Lithuania has acquired the tone of distrust, which is hurting Germany and is a “corrosive and harmful” debate.
“I want to set out one point which is very important, and that is a sensitive spot. I have detected several times undertones which at least imply sometimes that Germany is backtracking or is reluctant to fulfil its already existing commitments and engagements. That is a) not true and b) offensive and c) and that is the political point I wish to make here, to all of you, it will not be useful for anyone. This debate is corrosive and harmful,” the ambassador said.
He also said that military experts need to say what constitutes a brigade in the alliance’s defence.
“Let the military experts work this out. We have full confidence in Lithuania building its infrastructure, and the efforts are impressive, they are amazing, the funding for this is amazing, and the military experts need to work out what exactly in the 21st century a brigade for the defence of Lithuania within our alliance looks like,” Sonn said.
He also expressed his surprise that the German commitment had led to a political debate. Although debate on such important public issues is natural in a democratic society, he had to inform his leadership that confidence in Germany had gone down in Lithuania over the last few years.
“I sensed something as well, as the German ambassador, which should have not surprised me, but in the end I had to report to my authorities in Berlin that it was pretty obvious that over the past few years our country had lost a degree of trust in the Lithuanian political spectrum, in the media and in the public,” the ambassador said.
“The debate on what was agreed in June between Chancellor Scholz and President Nausėda has been suffused with a degree of mistrust in whether Germany is reliable as an ally to take the central part in building up the brigade and beefing up the protection of the eastern flank. I have discovered that there are innumerable military experts who define exactly what a brigade is and what a brigade is not,” Sonn said, adding that discussion on any important issues are normal and legitimate “if Lithuanian politicians, Lithuanian voices would like to go beyond what was agreed in June”.
In June, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz signed a joint communiqué stating that “in addition to the current and reinforced enhanced Forward Presence Battle Group already in place, Germany is ready to lead a robust and combat-ready brigade in Lithuania dedicated to deter and defend against Russian aggression”.
Read more: Baerbock: German brigade will be stationed ‘partly in Lithuania, partly in Germany’
German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht stated while visiting Lithuania in October that “we will ensure that the brigade can be moved to Lithuania in a short period of time, within 10 days” but did not mention permanent rotations of the unit.
Joining her at the press conference, Lithuanian Defence Minister Arvydas Anušauskas said such a time-frame was sufficient, which led to discussion in Lithuania on Germany’s commitment to deploy a brigade-size unit in Lithuania.
In response to debate in Lithuania on the way the agreements Lithuanian and Germany made at the NATO summit in Madrid would be implemented, the German ambassador then issued a public statement saying that a brigade was already physically in Lithuania as “a brigade is where its command is”.
Vilnius wants a full rotational German brigade to be permanently deployed in the country. Berlin officials, however, have said numerous times that part of the brigade promised by Berlin would be deployed in Lithuania and the rest would stay at home.
Germany has so far only deployed the planned brigade’s forward command element to Lithuania.
Germany also leads an international NATO battle group stationed in Lithuania since 2017.
Read more: LRT FACTS. Permanent or remote – what kind of brigade did Germany promise to Lithuania?
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