Vilnius expects a plan for the stationing of Germany’s brigade in Lithuania to be ready by the end of September, according to Defence Minister Arvydas Anušauskas.
“The joint task group is starting its work,” Anušauskas told LRT RADIO on Thursday. “It is summer now and there can be some delays, but we hope to have it all in place by the end of September.”
“As we are planning the finances and the construction, and organising everything, [...] we need to have it [the plan] as soon as possible,” he added.
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius told reporters at the NATO summit in Vilnius earlier this week that Berlin expected to have a plan for deploying the brigade in Lithuania ready by the fourth quarter of this year.
“Planning will really help us to coordinate our actions,” Anušauskas told LRT RADIO.
He said it was not yet clear if the German military personnel would come to Lithuania with or without their families.
Pistorius said earlier that a 4,000-strong German brigade would be permanently stationed in Lithuania. In that case, troops would normally come with their families, which would require additional infrastructure.
“I’d say that was the statement, but we’ll have to wait and see what happens in reality. Not even the German side can say so with certainty,” Anušauskas said. “Of course, if there were such a need, [...] I think Lithuania would be able to do it.”
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 put the necessary infrastructure in place and if this was in line with other NATO plans.
The brigade’s Forward Command Element is already stationed in Lithuania.
Germany also leads NATO’s multinational enhanced Forward Presence Battalion Battlegroup deployed in Lithuania since 2017.
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