Berlin is taking steps to increase the number of German brigade troops in Lithuania, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in Vilnius on Tuesday.
Vilnius wants the German brigade assigned to Lithuania last year to be permanently deployed in the Baltic country on a rotational basis.
“The brigade issue is being discussed both in Lithuania and in Germany. The political leadership in Lithuania and Germany are not arguing on this issue. As [Lithuanian] President Nausėda said, we know that both countries have to do their homework, both Lithuania and Germany, so we are now taking steps to increase the number of brigade troops in Lithuania,” Steinmeier told a joint press conference on Tuesday.
There is “close cooperation” on the issue, he said, and the process is being coordinated by the defence ministers of both countries.
Last year, the Lithuanian and German leaders signed a joint communiqué on the brigade deployment in Lithuania, but only the brigade’s Forward Command Element is now based in Lithuania, despite Vilnius’ wishes for the brigade’s permanent presence.
“With no doubt, it is important not only to have the Forward Command Element in Lithuania but that, in coordination with Lithuania, individual brigade units come and train here on a regular basis. So not only the Forward Command Element is in Lithuania, but actually also part of the brigade,” the German president said.
“I ask for your understanding that further steps need to be taken and that this needs to be agreed between the federal defence minister and the Lithuanian defence minister,” he added.
Until now, Berlin has been saying that only part of the brigade will be deployed in Lithuania and the remaining part will stay in Germany. In April, Nausėda said that he and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had agreed on a gradual deployment of the German brigade in Lithuania. Vilnius seeks to have the brigade in place by 2026.
On Tuesday, Nausėda stressed that Lithuania was making efforts to meet its part of the commitment to prepare the necessary infrastructure for German troops.
“We are not building barracks and all other necessary infrastructure to stand empty. With no doubt, our expectation is for them to be filled and for that to be done gradually, and I fully agree with what dear president [Steinmeier] said: our homework and Germany’s capabilities must be coordinated and go simultaneously. It wouldn’t be constructive to talk about the end-goal without doing what needs to be done today and tomorrow,” he said.
Germany leads an international battle group of up to 1,500 troops, deployed in Lithuania since 2017.
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