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The President in Pabradė: Deployment of German brigade units is a defense priority for Lithuania

President of the Republic of Lithuania

June 26, 2023

On Monday, President Gitanas Nausėda together with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius visited General Silvestras Žukauskas Training Area in Pabradė, where they observed the Lithuanian-German Exercise Griffin Storm.

The Head of State and the guests were shown maneuvers of the troops and military equipment participating in the exercise. They were also introduced to the objectives and results of the planning and conducting of the exercise, were briefed on the equipment used, and interacted with the soldiers.

According to the President, this exercise is yet another proof of Germany's consistent efforts to fulfil its commitments, and demonstrates its readiness to deploy and rapidly redeploy combat troops to Lithuania.

"Permanent deployment of German brigade units in Lithuania is our defense priority. For its part, Lithuania is doing what it has to do—we are already allocating 2.5% of our GDP to defense spending with additional opportunities to spend more as a host nation to welcome additional NATO forces, as well as to cover the capacity building needs of the armed forces in establishing a national division," President Gitanas Nausėda spoke.

The Head of State added that Lithuania is also actively developing and improving its military mobility and military training ground infrastructure, and is aiming to enable its defense industry to contribute to national and NATO defense needs.

Griffin Storm is a joint German-Lithuanian exercise to practice the protection of NATO's eastern flank.

The Forward Command Element of the German brigade deployed in Lithuania is in charge of organizing the exercise and ensuring the redeployment of 1,000 German troops and heavy equipment to Lithuania in the event of a raised alert level.

The regular joint Lithuanian-German training includes joint operations planning, deployment of forces and execution of combat tasks through a combination of field training and live-fire exercises.