German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said that his country is committed to being capable of deploying troops to Lithuania very quickly.
Lithuanian officials are seeking a permanent deployment of Germany's brigade assigned to the country last year.
"We have a diverse range of support measures, not only in the Baltic countries," Scholz said at a joint press conference with the Baltic premiers in Tallinn on Friday. "[German] troops are deployed in Lithuania and this also requires the infrastructure, which is currently being developed."
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"We are also committed to being capable of deploying troops very quickly, and we are conducting exercises to ensure that such deployment is possible. It must be possible at any time," the chancellor said.
"We do this within the framework of NATO and in line with NATO decisions," he added.
His answer came in response to a question of whether he would pledge to deploy a German brigade to Lithuania.
Last year, Scholz and President Gitanas Nausėda signed a joint communique on the brigade's deployment in Lithuania.
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Lithuania is seeking the brigade's permanent presence on its territory, but Germany has so far only deployed its forward command element.
According to Berlin, part of the brigade will be stationed in Lithuania and the rest will continue to be based in Germany.
Nausėda said in April that he and Scholz had agreed on a gradual deployment of the German brigade in Lithuania. Vilnius aims to have the brigade in place by 2026.
Germany leads NATO's multinational enhanced Forward Presence Battalion Battle Group, a unit of up to 1,500 troops, stationed in Lithuania since 2017.
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