Germany could send more troops to NATO's eastern flank - defence minister

By Andrius Sytas

RUKLAMILITARYBASE, Lithuania -Germany might ship extra troops to Lithuania and different nations on NATO‘s jap flank after Russia formally recognised two areas of Ukraine as impartial, German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht stated on Tuesday.

“It's clear that we have to apply stricter deterrence measures,” Lambrecht informed a joint information convention together with her Lithuanian counterpart on the Rukla navy base.

“I need to underscore that we're able to ship extra troops, land and air. We're able to ship extra troops additionally to Lithuania and sign that we're along with companions and we're a reliable companion in a disaster,” she stated.

Germany is now assessing the wants for reinforcements and can make selections within the close to future, Lambrecht stated. Deployments wouldn't be restricted to Lithuania.

“We're speaking about the entire jap NATO flank. We're watching all this and we should ensure that the jap flank is nicely protected. We are actually trying into what extra measures we should always take.”

German troopers comprise about half of a 1,100-strong NATO battlegroup in Lithuania that features troops from Belgium, the Czech Republic, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Norway.

Potential additional reinforcements flagged by Lambrecht on Tuesday would come on prime of some 360 German troopers now being added to the battlegroup, whereas Norway introduced plans to extend its participation by 50-60 troopers.

Individually, Britain is reinforcing the British-led NATO battlegroup in Estonia with 800 troops.

“QUITE A LOT“

After these and anticipated future reinforcements, NATO forces within the Baltic States – Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia – will virtually double and can attain greater than 6,000 troops in three battlegroups in every nation, Lithuania’s Defence Minister Arvydas Anusauskas informed Reuters.

The NATO troops within the three countires numbered about 3,400 at the start of the 12 months.

“After all of the additions, Lithuania and Estonia can have over 2,000 NATO troops. Latvia perhaps a bit much less however nonetheless rather a lot”, he stated.

NATO has arrange 4 multinational battlegroups of simply over 1,000 troops every in Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland in 2017 after Russia annexed the Crimea area from Ukraine.

They're set as much as act as a tripwire and purchase time by holding off any assault till reinforcements arrive.