Nato urged to do more to defend against Putin

RUKLA, Lithuania: Nato must do more to protect itself against Russia and President Vladimir Putin, German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht said on Saturday, because we “cannot know how far Putin’s delusions of grandeur can go”.

“One thing is certain: the current situation means we need to do more together,” Lambrecht said while visiting German troops deployed in Lithuania.

“The brutal Russian war of aggression in Ukraine is getting more and more brutal and unscrupulous… Russia’s threat of nuclear weapons shows that Russian authorities have no scruples.”

The United States has said repeatedly that it has seen no indication that Russia is preparing to use nuclear weapons in despite what it calls Putin’s “nuclear saber-rattling.”

Germany deployed its first troops to Nato member Lithuania, on the border of Russia, in 2017 after Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula. It agreed to ramp up the mission significantly in June in response to Russia’s February 24 attack of Ukraine.

Lambrecht inaugurated a permanent German command centre in Lithuania, which she said would help move a brigade of troops from Germany to Lithuania in 10 days if needed.

A Nato brigade is 3,000-5,000 troops, and Lambrecht said frequent exercises in Lithuania would help moving the troops quickly if needed to join the 1,000 troops kept permanently in Lithuania.

“We stand by our allies,” Lambrecht said. “We’ve heard Russia’s threats to Lithuania which was implementing European sanctions on the border with Kaliningrad. This is not nearly the first threats and we must take them seriously and be prepared,” she added.

Meanwhile, talks are also planned with the operational command as well as with soldiers, and Lambrecht will also meet Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte.

According to the German military, a total of 250 soldiers from the German Nato brigade will take part in the military exercise, as well as Lithuanian troops.

It is the first exercise after Germany promised in June to send a brigade to Lithuania. The plan envisages that Germany will lead a combat brigade of 3,000 to 5,000 soldiers in Lithuania.

The brigade arrived in Rukla at the beginning of September and is now to be officially commissioned by Lambrecht, but the majority of the soldiers will be kept on standby in Germany. Lithuania borders the Russian Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad as well as Russia’s ally Belarus. – dpa