Bundeswehr stationed the first brigade in Lithuania: a new defense contribution!

Bundeswehr stationed the first brigade in Lithuania: a new defense contribution!

On May 22, 2025, it is official: The Bundeswehr puts a new brigade in Lithuania into service. This brigade represents the first permanent stationing of a Bundeswehr troop association abroad. This measure is responded to the NATO-East flank in response to the increasing threat of Russia. At the moment around 400 soldiers of the brigade are already stationed in Lithuania, but it is expected that the brigade will be fully operational by 2027 with a permanent presence of up to 5,000 soldiers.

The main location of the brigade will be in Rudninkai, near the border with Belarus, where a new barracks with a military training area is to be built. Until the completion of these barracks, there are transition solutions in existing Lithuanian barracks, especially near Vilnius. In order to promote the integration of the soldiers and their families, schools and kindergartens are built up in the cities of Vilnius and Kaunas.

strategic importance for NATO

The strategic location of Lithuania is particularly sensitive because the country borders on Belarus and the Russian exclave Kaliningrad. The Suwalki gap lies between Lithuania and Poland, a crucial NATO corridor that Russia could block in the event of an argument. Lithuania has a population of 2.8 million and an army of currently 15,000 soldiers, but plans to increase them to 17,000 to 18,000 soldiers by 2030. The country intends to issue 5 to 6 percent of its GDP for defense, whereby the war in Ukraine is perceived as a direct threat to national security.

Family -friendly conditions for soldiers

Pistorius described the permanent troop station in Lithuania as a "new territory for the Bundeswehr" and underlined the changed security situation, which has changed radically due to the Russian attack war against Ukraine. For the soldiers, conditions are to be created on site that make it possible to bring their families with them and find suitable apartments. In addition, Germany plans to build Bundeswehr schools and German-speaking facilities for childcare in Lithuania.

These developments show how seriously Germany and NATO take the security situation on the eastern flank of Allianz. Lithuania sees the stationing of the Bundeswehr as a clear reinsurance of the NATO assistance obligation. The measures are in line with the strategic goal of stabilizing and strengthening the defense policy situation in the region. You can find out more at Deutschlandfunk and Tagesschau .