On June 27 Minister of National Defence Arvydas Anušauskas attended a distance meeting of the three Baltic states’ Defence Ministers and Secretary of Defense of the United States of America Lloyd Austin.
Minister A. Anušauskas underscored that Lithuania aimed for NATO decisions that reflected the factual situation and increasingly growing threats. According to Minister, Russia has its reason to escalate the topic of transit to Kaliningrad, therefore it is crucial that brigades are mentioned in NATO decisions, as well as the U.S. leadership in taking those decisions.
The U.S. force presence has been on a sustained rotational basis in Lithuania since 2019. The fifth battalion-sized rotation, the 1-66 (1st Battalion of the 66th Armor Regiment, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, U.S. Army) is currently on the ground in Lithuania. It replaced the U.S. 3-66 heavy battalion troops and their military equipment brought along in the beginning of the rotation.
Decisions concerning strengthening the defence of the eastern flank of NATO will be taken at the NATO Summit in Madrid on June 29-30.
