On August 1 rotations and leadership of the NATO enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) Battalion Battle Group Lithuania will change over at a ceremony at the Lithuanian Great Hetman Jonušas Radvila Training Regiment in Rukla.
Representative of the German Army Lieutenant Colonel Peer Papenbroock will hand over the command to another German representative Lieutenant Colonel Rouven Habel after having been in charge of the NATO eFP Battalion Battle Group Lithuania since February. Lt Col Rouven Habel is the commander of the 391st Mechanised Infantry Battalion of the Bundeswehr.
The ceremony is expected to be attended by Vice Minister of National Defence Vytautas Umbrasas, acting Chief of Defence, Chief of the Defence Staff Brig Gen Gintautas Zenkevičius, Commander of the Lituhanian Land Force Brig Gen Raimundas Vaikšnoras, and representatives of armed forces of the allies contributing to the NATO eFP Battalion Battle Group.
The incoming German rotation in the NATO eFP Battalion Battle Group Lithuania is formed mainly by soldiers of the 391st Mechanized Infantry Battalion (Panzergrenadierbataillon 391) based in Bad Salzungen.
Deployed at the Training Regiment in Rukla since the beginning of 2017, the multinational battle group is integrated into the Mechanised Infantry Brigade Iron Wolf of the Lithuanian Armed Forces. Over 8 thousand troops from 9 NATO allies have already rotated to form the NATO eFP Battalion Battle Group Lithuania over the period of time of more than two years since 2017. Current composition of the NATO eFP Battalion Battle Group Lithuania is made up of German, Belgian, Czech, Dutch, Norwegian forces and a civilian expert of Iceland.
Soldiers of the NATO eFP Battalion Battle Group Lithuania constantly and actively train and take part in all major exercises in Lithuania during the deployment. The multinational unit has settled and established itself over the two years of presence in Lithuania: NATO allies started excellent relations with our soldiers, as well as with local communities, schools, municipal administrations. They participate actively in various cultural and social projects, commemorations of historical and state holidays of Lithuania.
The NATO eFP Battalion Battle Group Lithuania personnel have been visited by top officials of the contributing nations – kings, dukes, presidents, heads of parliaments and ministries, chiefs of defence. That is a piece of good news to Lithuania — so many different allies have seen our country and people worthy of defending and possibly, the defenders of their own countries. People of Lithuania also support the NATO enhanced Forward Presence — a public opinion poll carried out at the request of the Ministry of National Defence late last year showed 76% of respondents believed that the NATO presence helped to deter hostile states.
The NATO eFP Battalion Battle Group Lithuania is a direct response to aggressive provocative actions of Russia in the vicinity of NATO borders which have led to deterioration of stability and security and predictability of the security situation, and changes in the security environment . The decision to deploy NATO eFP Battalion Battle Groups along the eastern NATO border was taken in July 2016 at the NATO Summit in Warsaw by request of the Baltic States and Poland.
Media advisory:
Media representatives willing to take part in the change of command ceremony should register until July 31, 13.00 hrs at [email protected] , +370 612 78315
Photo credits: Sgt Spc Ieva Budzeikaitė ( LITHAF), Alfredas Pliadis (MoD)
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