Marius Laurinavičius believes that the physical presence of the entire brigade in Lithuania is desirable, but this is not the main issue of our security.
– My position, even before the full-blown war in Ukraine, was that we must not only deter the enemy, but actually strengthen the country’s defense. These are two diametrically different things. Strengthening defense means that we have to realistically assess how much of our own forces are enough and what forces must be deployed on our territory in order to be actually defended in the event of any crisis, a security and Russia analyst comments in an interview with “Kurier Vilnius” .
Read more: More NATO forces in Lithuania?
Minister’s visit
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On March 7, the German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius paid an official visit to Lithuania, who observed the “Griffin Lightning” military exercises at the training ground in Podbrodzie with the participation of German soldiers. “It is not a matter of what Germany plans, but what NATO considers necessary. We have a brigade dedicated to Lithuania and Lithuania has now started the process of preparing the appropriate infrastructure,” the German politician told journalists, noting that the final decision whether the entire brigade should be physically located in Lithuania is to be taken at the NATO summit in Vilnius.
Before the visit to Vilnius, the German magazine “Der Spiegel” published an article entitled “The Phantom Brigade”. Defense Minister Arvydas Anušauskas believes that it is not worth forming an opinion about Berlin’s position on the German brigade in our country on the basis of media headlines. “I think you have to use your own head to understand the whole situation, not the headlines from Der Spiegel. In this case, this journalist was also in Lithuania. This article was written before the visit. After the visit, I have not seen any of his publications,” the minister said last week in an interview with Žinių radijas.
Lithuanian diplomat and geopolitical expert Albinas Januška criticized the position on the German brigade and the leaders of the West that they allegedly exert influence on Ukraine to start peace negotiations with Russia. “I would say this: if the Russians don’t lose – which is possible – then Europe may cease to exist at all. There will be no European Union as such, there will be no values on which the EU is based,” the diplomat said in an interview with delfi.lt.
Earlier, Januška said that Lithuania must strive for the permanent stay of Polish armed forces on our territory, because Poland assesses the situation in the region more adequately than Germany.
| photo. Marian Paluszkiewicz
Weapons, not soldiers
Does Germany’s position really threaten Lithuania’s security?
— This question can be answered with both “yes” and “no.” Speaking of the short-term perspective, the deployment of the brigade in Lithuania is impossible not only because of Germany’s position, but simply because Lithuania is simply not prepared for it. This is obvious. So any talk of a brigade being redeployed in a month, three months or six months is meaningless. This is impossible, therefore Germany’s position, in the short term, does not threaten our security in any way – shares his reflections with our daily Laurinavičius.
According to the interlocutor, the discussion in Lithuania is going in the wrong direction.
“Obviously, from a national defense point of view, it would be better if the entire brigade were permanently stationed with us. On the other hand, in my opinion, the problem must be solved in one way or another. This problem exists. In general, everyone has long known about the German position on this issue. Germany has long been in the position of never wanting to lead anything unless someone else does, so we have to look for solutions. First of all, we need to talk to Germany at all levels. It will be a lengthy process. We also need to talk to our other NATO allies. In my opinion, in the first place, Lithuania should not strive to physically place the soldiers on our territory as soon as possible, but to transfer all the brigade’s armaments to Lithuania. If we have 100% deployment. all the armament, the transfer of soldiers will be a matter of a few days, ten at most, the interlocutor emphasises.
The analyst adds that we must realize that NATO is us.
– Despite the fact that we have been in the alliance for many years, statements such as that there is NATO and there are us can still be seen in the statements. Therefore, as long as the problem with our security is not finally solved, it is a problem for the whole of NATO. So if it is possible to deploy soldiers from other countries next to German soldiers, then it must be done. Of course, the priority is American soldiers. Because if there’s anyone the Russians are really afraid of, it’s the Americans. Others are much less afraid. Secondly, the United States is the only country in the world that can not only defend itself against an attack, but also defeat Russia, emphasizes the interlocutor.
Polish soldiers
In the case of the idea of deploying Polish troops on the territory of Lithuania, Marius Laurinavičius has a twofold opinion.
“Poland is indeed a leader among NATO when it comes to defense, which is why good relations with our neighbor are a priority in Lithuania’s foreign policy,” says the analyst.
Poland’s declaration to allocate 4% of GDP to defence. GDP, the interviewee believes, is very good news for Lithuania. However, Polish troops are stationed near the Lithuanian border anyway, so moving them to Lithuanian territory will not be of fundamental importance for our security.
– If we focus too much on bringing in the Polish armed forces, we may lose the possibility of deploying some additional military units of other countries to us. Other NATO countries that have a different view of the situation may say “you have Polish soldiers who are enough for your security.” This would not be a good scenario for Lithuania, the analyst emphasizes.
Read more: Polish Minister of National Defense Mariusz Błaszczak in Lithuania
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