Germany Vows to Defend Baltic Nations in Event of Russian Attack
Chancellor Olaf Scholz pledged to defend Germany’s three Baltic NATO allies in case of a Russian attack, and to complete the establishment of a permanent brigade in Lithuania by the end of 2027.
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(Bloomberg) — Chancellor Olaf Scholz pledged to defend Germany’s three Baltic NATO allies in case of a Russian attack, and to complete the establishment of a permanent brigade in Lithuania by the end of 2027.
“Germany stands firmly at the side of the Baltic states,” Scholz told reporters Monday during a visit to a German tank battalion stationed in Lithuania, his third trip to the region since taking office in 2021.
Scholz is also meeting with his counterparts from Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia in Riga to discuss closer defense and energy cooperation. The four leaders are due to hold a joint news conference later on Monday.
“We are committed to each other, that is part of the understandings we have reached in NATO,” Scholz said. “And that means that we grant each other protection and that all states can rely on us to defend every inch of their territory.”
A preliminary command of some 20 German soldiers arrived in Lithuania in April and is set to expand to around 150 personnel by the end of the year. As many as 5,000 soldiers will be permanently stationed at the military bases of Rukla near Kaunas in central Lithuania and Rudninkai near the capital Vilnius and the border with Belarus.
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Speaking alongside Scholz, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda urged Germany to speed up the deployment, given Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and threats against other former Soviet states.
“We can’t afford the luxury of wasting even a minute,” Nauseda warned.
Sending a brigade to the Baltic states is part of Scholz’s “historic turning point” in military policy, which he proclaimed in a speech to parliament only a few days after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Despite Germany’s strict rules on borrowing, Scholz pushed through a debt-financed special fund to modernize the Bundeswehr armed forces worth €100 billion ($108 billion). It helped Germany lift defense spending above 2% of economic output as pledged by NATO allies.
In addition to the permanent stationing of a brigade in Lithuania, Germany is strengthening NATO’s eastern flank with the ongoing air policing mission over the Baltic nations and a German-led Enhanced Forward Presence battlegroup.
“Germany is investing massively in the expansion of its defense capabilities,” Scholz told reporters. “This is linked to the decision that investment in the Bundeswehr will account for 2% of our economic output in the long term, year after year. That has been achieved this year and will not change again.”
—With assistance from Milda Seputyte, Aaron Eglitis and Ott Tammik.
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