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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/22/germany-anti-russian-defence-nato-lithuania-friedrich-merz>
"The German chancellor has visited Lithuania to mark Berlin’s first permanent
foreign troop deployment since the second world war, as he called on allies to
dramatically expand their efforts to bolster European defences against a
hostile Russia.
As a crowd waved Lithuanian, German and Ukrainian flags, Friedrich Merz and his
defence minister, Boris Pistorius, attended a ceremony launching the official
formation of an armoured brigade aimed at protecting Nato’s eastern flank.
The new heavy combat unit, the 45th tank brigade, will comprise 4,800 German
soldiers and 200 civilian staff. It was announced in response to Russia’s
full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and is scheduled to reach full
operational capacity by 2027.
Merz said: “Together with our partners, we are determined to defend the
alliance territory against any aggression. The security of our Baltic allies is
also our security.”
The deployment, unprecedented for the Bundeswehr, is aimed at shoring up the
defence of Lithuania and its fellow Baltic republics Estonia and Latvia, former
Soviet states that have become Nato and EU members and fear a Russian attack.
At a news conference in Vilnius with Lithuania’s president, Gitanas Nausėda,
Merz said “Russia’s aggressive revisionism” seeking to redraw the European map
created grave security risks for the entire continent, not only Ukraine."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
