(Dan Tri) – Lithuania is the southernmost of the three Baltic states bordering Belarus – Russia’s ally to the east – and Russia’s Kaliningrad region to the west.
NATO troops during exercises in Lithuania last month (Photo: Getty).
According to the Guardian, NATO in mid-April held exercises in Lithuania, in the context that the Baltic country, long considered NATO’s `Achilles’ heel`, is calling on this military alliance to increase its military presence to
30 kilometers west of the Belarusian border, NATO tanks were moving through Lithuania’s pine forests at high speed until they were stopped by a barbed wire barricade.
No real explosives were used in the drill, which took place at the Pabrade military base in eastern Lithuania.
Regardless of the outcome of the exercise, there is a reality that NATO is facing, which is that the security structure of this military alliance has never been as fragile as it is today.
An independent republic since 1990, Lithuania is the southernmost of the three Baltic states bordering Russia’s ally Belarus to the east and Russia’s Kaliningrad region to the west.
`Until November 2021, the Russian army still seems to be quite far from the NATO border,` Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergi said.
Assume special strategic situations
Lithuania is the southernmost of the three Baltic states bordering Belarus – Russia’s ally to the east – and Russia’s Kaliningrad region to the west (Photo: BI).
Since 2014, after Russia annexed Crimea, NATO has deployed additional reinforced combat groups in four member states on NATO’s eastern flank: Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict has led the alliance to further strengthen its presence in the region, with multinational battalions deployed to Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Slovakia.
NATO troops deployed in Lithuania have increased from about 1,200 to about 1,600 troops and are equipped with new weapons, such as the German army’s light and mobile Ozelot air defense system, which can be used
However, the function of the above military units is `tripod wire` – a warning to opponents that any attempt to change internationally recognized borders targeting NATO members will automatically
But as things stand, there is no doubt that the additional units could be defeated if conflict with Russia actually broke out.
The scenario in the current Rising Griffin exercise is that the attacking force is overwhelmed by numbers.
As NATO countries prepare to meet in Madrid next June, Lithuania, along with its Baltic neighbor Estonia, are calling on NATO to urgently adjust its strategy in the region from deterrence to what it calls `defense`.
In the agreement between Russia and NATO signed in 1997, there is a clause limiting the number of NATO troops allowed to deploy to the Baltic countries, as well as the distance to the Russian border that NATO forces must maintain.
Active reinforcements in Lithuania, from seven European countries and led by Germany, must be rotated every six months and hundreds of vehicles must be transported by road, rail or air.
While countries such as Germany and Britain still adhere to their commitments, Lithuania and other countries in the region say the document is no longer viable.
Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas in early April called for the three Baltic countries to be given `combat capacity`, with divisions of up to 25,000 soldiers each.
`The question we have to ask ourselves is: what will the new global security architecture of the world after this war look like?`, Ms. Kaja Kallas said.
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