The Lithuanian government expects that Germany will send a brigade of up to 5,000 servicemen to the country by 2026.

European Pravda writes about it with reference to Spiegel.

The deployment of additional forces in the Baltic states is necessary to strengthen NATO’s eastern flank. This was stated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Gabrielius Landsbergis during his visit to Berlin.

The minister emphasized that Lithuania plans to make significant investments in the coming years to ensure the possibility of defense.

“By 2026, we will have everything ready: training grounds, barracks and everything else,” he said.

Vilnius expects to deploy an entire brigade of personnel in Lithuania on a rotational basis, but the German government wants to keep the majority of soldiers in Germany, however, ready for possible deployment.

Back in the summer of this year, Lithuania began preparing military infrastructure to receive the German brigade two years sooner than planned – in mid-2025, not in 2027.

Arvydas Anušauskas, Lithuanian Defense Minister stated that the deployment of the German brigade will require the construction of both storage facilities for weapons and infrastructure to accommodate troops.

Most of the brigade members will be stationed in Germany, at least for the time being. Because of the existing lack of infrastructure to host and train troops.

Among other things, Lithuania started building a new military training area in Rudninkai. It also announced plans to develop campsites elsewhere in the country. Approximately EUR 350 million could be needed for all the infrastructure improvement works.

The German-led multinational NATO battalion has been stationed in Lithuania since 2017, but at the June summit in Madrid, countries of the Alliance agreed to upgrade it to the brigade level.

Lithuania borders the Russian Baltic exclave Kaliningrad region and Russia’s ally Belarus.