RT calls attention to the Lithuanian Defense Ministry announcement that construction has begun on a base for German military use. The Lithuanian facility that will house German troops is stationed some 20 km from the Belarusian border, on the route between Belarus and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.
This is the first German troop presence there since World War II.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and then-Lithuanian Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas sign an agreement to build the base in December 2023. For Pistorius, the base is part of his plan to make Germany “ready for war.” Critics speak of a €4 billion project cost.
By the end of 2027 the base will host 4,800 combat troops and 200 civilian specialists, complete with heavy armaments and support infrastructure. The unit will comprise three combat battalions: Two of them will be only Germans, and include an armored battalion and a heavy infantry battalion; the third will be multinational.
