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.
Lithuanian Defence Minister Laurynas Kasčiūnas, who only took up the post last month, greeted the 21 German soldiers upon arrival at the Vilnius airport.
Kasčiūnas called the deployment "very important" for Lithuania as well as "proof of German reliability."
He assured the troops that the Lithuanian government would do everything in its power to build the necessary infrastructure on time.
No one should get the idea that they could test the assistance obligations in NATO, the minister said.
The 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.
The brigade's main deployment location will be the Rūdninkai military training area not far from the border with Belarus. According to Lithuanian information, around 80% of the soldiers will be stationed there, with the rest to be stationed in Rukla in central Lithuania.
Kasčiūnas told Lithuanian radio on Monday that it will cost about €800 million ($866 million) to create the appropriate living and working conditions for the German brigade.
German Defence Minister Pistorius on Moday evening called for a reassessment of the funding for Germany's armed forces.
In an interview published by public broadcaster ZDF, he said that when it comes to Germany's strict debt rules, it should be considered whether to make an exception for the challenges posed by domestic and foreign security.
Berlin has pledged to spend at least 2% of gross domestic product on defence, in accordance with the target set by NATO for its member states.
While the government is so far still able to rely on a special €100 billion defence fund created in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, it is unclear what will happen after that money is exhaused by 2027.
