German Chancellor Friedrich Merz visited Lithuania on Thursday, May 22nd, to mark the establishment of Germany’s first permanent overseas military unit, the Lithuania Brigade, since World War II, aimed at bolstering NATO’s eastern flank.
The decision to build up a 5,000-strong armoured brigade in Lithuania over the coming years came in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
“There is a threat to us all from Russia,” Merz told reporters in Vilnius. “We are protecting ourselves against this threat—and that is why we are here today.”
While Germany has joined multinational military missions, considering its WWII history, the country has been reluctant to up its contributions to other operations. Therefore the establishment of a permanent brigade overseas is an unprecedented move for the post-war German armed forces, the Bundeswehr.
The Lithuania brigade consists of around 4,800 troops and 200 civilian Bundeswehr employees, and will be gradually deployed over the coming years to reach full operational capability by 2027. An advance party of around 400 Bundeswehr personnel are already in the country.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said Merz’s visit as a sign of Berlin’s “commitment to strengthen the deterrence and defence of our country and the entire NATO eastern flank.”
