Germany sends additional soldiers to Lithuania

Against the background of tensions with Russia, the Bundeswehr presence in the former Soviet republic will be more than doubled. The defense minister announced that she would send 350 soldiers to Lithuania.

"We are thus strengthening our contribution to NATO's eastern flank and sending a clear signal of determination to our alliance partners," said Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht during a visit to the Munster military training area in Lower Saxony. At the same time, the Bundestag was informed about the project.

The additional soldiers should be deployed from February 14, the minister said. The plan is to send 250 soldiers from the army and 100 more from other Bundeswehr units. Lambrecht is coordinating this with the partners in the Baltic States, her ministry said on Twitter.

Lithuania borders the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad and Russia's ally Belarus. It secures NATO's land connection to its other Baltic members Latvia and Estonia.

Germany has been leading the deployment of a multinational NATO unit with 1,200 task forces in Lithuania for five years. Of the soldiers from the NATO contingent stationed there, around 500 are soldiers from the Bundeswehr.