Berlin should draw up a plan for the deployment of a brigade to Lithuania by the end of the year, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said in Vilnius on Tuesday.
“I spoke with Lithuanian colleges, and there is understanding that by the fourth quarter, even before the fourth quarter, we will jointly draw up a roadmap, a plan for the stationing of a brigade here in Lithuania,” Pistorius, who is in Vilnius for the NATO summit, told reporters.
Vilnius and Berlin agreed on the brigade last year.
Germany announced in June that it was ready to permanently station the brigade in Lithuania if the country puts the necessary infrastructure in place and if this is in line with other NATO plans.
Pistorius said on Tuesday that the agreement on the brigade “is, of course, aligned with NATO plans”, but is not part of them.
Germany leads NATO’s multinational enhanced Forward Presence Battalion Battlegroup deployed in Lithuania since 2017.
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