“The Government of the Netherlands has decided to continue contributing to the NATO enhanced Forward Presence Battalion Battle Group in Lithuania with increased strength,” revealed Minister of National Defence Arvydas Anušauskas after the Tuesday meeting on the growing cooperation with Ambassador of the Netherlands to Lithuania HE Bonnie Horbach.
Minister thanked the Netherlands for the decision to increase the already weighty contribution to Lithuania’s security. Dutch troops, with the strength increased to 300, will be serving with the NATO enhanced Forward Presence Battalion Battle Group in Rukla at least until the end of 2024 . If deemed necessary, 50 more servicemembers will be deployed to Lithuania.
“We are particularly grateful for this decision. We thank the Netherlands for regular deployment of troops and equipment to the NATO enhanced Forward Presence Battalion in Rukla – it sends a clear signal of the solidarity between NATO allies to Russia and Belarus,” said Minister A. Anušauskas after the meeting with B. Horbach.
The Netherlands has been deploying 270-strong troops rotation to the NATO enhance Forward Presence Battalion Battle Group Lithuania since 2017, this mandate expires in the end of the year. According to Ambassador, next mandate adds 80 troops in order to make sure that the deterrence against Russia is stronger on the eastern NATO border.
The Netherlands also contribute to the Lithuanian security by sending air force detachments to the NATO Air Policing Mission in the Baltic states and taking part in NATO Force Integration Unit activities. The NATO enhance Forward Presence Battalion Battle Group is currently manned by Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and Norway, aside from the Netherlands., in total, roughly 1.1 thousand military personnel.
Minister A. Anušauskas also thanked the Ambassador for the Dutch assistance in managing the irregular migration crisis caused by the hybrid attack by Belarus and reiterated Lithuania’s invitation to support the initiative to establish a European Union military training mission in Ukraine.
Photo credit: MoD/A.Pliadis.
