German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius has described the start of a German brigade in Lithuania as a key step to improve the deployment capability of NATO forces and "an important day for the Bundeswehr."
"This is the first time that we have permanently stationed such a unit outside Germany," Pistorius said on Monday in Berlin at a farewell ceremony for the preliminary command of the Lithuania brigade.
The 20 or so personnel are to lay the groundwork for the deployment of hundreds and eventually thousands of soldiers in the NATO country, which borders Poland as well as Belarus and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.
"I know there is still a lot to do, including on site. The infrastructure has to be right, the barracks have to be there, the accommodation," Pistorius said.
"There is still a lot to be done on the Lithuanian side," he added. "We will do everything we can to equip the brigade as it needs to be equipped from the outset," he told the soldiers.
The war in Ukraine has prompted NATO plans to strengthen its eastern flank.
The brigade, to be named Panzerbrigade 45, should be fully operational by 2027, and will consist of a permanent presence of around 4,800 soldiers and around 200 civilian members of the German armed forces and their families.
The preliminary command is set to grow to a force of around 150 men and women by the fourth quarter of 2024.
Lithuanian Defence Minister Laurynas Kasčiūnas, who only took up the post last month, was to meet the 20 or so German soldiers at the Vilnius airport. He wrote on social media that he was "excited" to greet them.
Kasčiūnas also said on Monday that it will cost about €800 million ($866 million) to create the appropriate living and working conditions for the German brigade.
He told Lithuanian radio the deployment is proceeding "as planned."
