Following Germany's decision to deploy troops to Lithuania amid the ongoing war in Ukraine, some NATO nations like the U.K. may be under more pressure to follow suit.
On Monday, Germany's Federal Ministry of Defence announced that it had signed a deal with Lithuania to deploy troops to the area in an effort to protect NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) territory.
"It's about deterring Russia and protecting NATO alliance territory: By permanently stationing a Bundeswehr brigade in Lithuania, Germany is sending a clear signal of solidarity with its NATO alliance partners. The establishment of the brigade in Lithuania is the flagship project of the turning point in security policy - triggered by Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine," Germany's Federal Ministry of Defence said.
The ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine is nearing the two-year mark. President Vladimir Putin began his "special military operation" in February 2022 and while Russia took a significant portion of Ukrainian territory, it has fallen short of its objectives. Ukraine's counteroffensive since the summer appears to have stalled as the harsh winter sets in and many experts expect the stalemate to continue.
Benjamin Tallis, a senior research fellow for the German Society of Foreign Policy, said on X, formerly Twitter, that the move by Germany to deploy troops in Lithuania puts more pressure on NATO and the U.K.
"Pressure now on #UK & #Canada to perma-deploy FULL brigades in [Estonia] & [Latvia] ASAP," Tallis wrote.
Speaking further with Newsweek, Tallis said that while Germany's deployment of troops "is a good step toward deterrence by denial in the region," more can be done to protect NATO nations.
"To really make it work though we need a much stronger commitment from allies," Tallis told Newsweek. "That means two things. Similar forces in Estonia (where the UK is the framework nation) and Latvia (Canada). Neither have yet committed to a full permanently stationed brigade - but doing so would remove weak links in the chain. NATO needs to deter the threat by being able to defend against it - not just displace it from Lithuania to the other Baltic states. It's a great opportunity for German-Canadian-British cooperation - and just the kind of burden sharing that Washington wants to see from it's Allies."
Edward Hunter Christie, a senior research fellow at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, made a similar comment on X, saying: "Germany leads by example by preparing to deploy to #Lithuania, from 2025, a full brigade (as opposed to the earlier battalion-size deployment), and on a permanent basis."
"(IMO, the UK really ought to match this in Estonia.)" Christie added in his post.
Prior to the announcement by Germany this week, NATO issued a statement on December 8 detailing how the treaty organization has increased its military presence in the eastern portion of the alliance territory since Russia invaded Ukraine.
"NATO has increased its military presence in the eastern part of the Alliance as a direct result of Russia's behaviour, which reflects a pattern of aggressive actions against its neighbours and the wider transatlantic community. Russia is the most significant and direct threat to Allies' security and to peace and stability in the Euro-Atlantic area," NATO said. "Following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Allies reinforced the existing battlegroups and agreed to establish four more multinational battlegroups in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia."
NATO said that there are currently eight multinational battleground groups in the alliance's eastern territory, which are led by "the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany and the United States."
In addition to providing troops to Lithuania, Germany was also previously called on to provide its Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine to assist in its war against Russia.
In a social media post from September, Ukraine's Defence Ministry shared a video of its Leopard 2 tanks received from Germany and said: "The number of destroyed Leopards in the Russian ministry of defense's daily reports is not correlated in any way to the number of Leopard 2A4 tanks in the Ukrainian Armed Forces."
Newsweek reached out to NATO and the U.K. Ministry of Defence via email for comment.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Matthew Impelli is a Newsweek staff writer based in New York. His focus is reporting social issues and crime. In ... Read more
