Lieutenant General Remigijus Baltrėnas on Thursday assumed command of NATO's International Military Staff, becoming Lithuania’s first military officer in such a position, the armed forces said.
Baltrėnas was elected the next director general of the International Military Staff for three years at the NATO Chiefs of Defence and Military Representatives’ conference in Prague nearly a year ago.
He is taking over from Lieutenant General Janusz Adamczak of the Polish Armed Forces at the NATO Headquarters in Brussels today.
Baltrėnas has served in numerous positions of command and staff officer across the Lithuanian Armed Forces over his 30 year-long career. While in position of commander of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Algirdas Battalion, Baltrėnas was put in charge of ISAF’s 12th Lithuanian-led Provincial Reconstruction Team in the province of Ghor in Afghanistan.
He has also served as the deputy commander of the Baltic Battalion’s Infantry Company in the NATO-led Stabilization Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the director of the Joint Command and Staff Course at the Baltic Defence College, an adviser to the defence minister and the 15th director of the Defence Intelligence and Security Service under the Ministry of National Defence.
Baltrėnas has also served as Lithuania's Military Representative to NATO and the EU for four years and led the Defence Staff for nearly a full year.
The International Military Staff (IMS) is the executive body of the Military Committee (MC), NATO’s senior military authority. It provides strategic and military advice and staff support for the Military Committee, which advises the North Atlantic Council on military aspects of policy, operations and transformation within the alliance.
The IMS also ensures that NATO decisions and policies on military matters are implemented by the appropriate NATO military bodies.
Newsletter
Every Friday morning.
