Lithuania this week started building a 170-hectare military base to house some 4,000 combat-ready German troops about 20km from the border with Belarus, Russia’s close ally.
The move comes in response to Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine. It will be the first time German troops are stationed outside Germany since WWII.
Lithuania’s defence ministry called it “the largest piece of military infrastructure in the history of Lithuania”.
It will be located in the Rūdninkai Training Area south of the capital Vilnius.
Lithuanian contractor Eikos Statyba UAB signed a €125m contract to build the initial phase in early August, the ministry said.
The base will be ready to host the German brigade in late 2027, Deutsche Welle (DW) reported.
“If we are not secure, there is no security for [Germany],” said Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrid Simonyte at Monday’s groundbreaking ceremony, DW reported.
General Raimundas Vaiksnoras, Lithuania’s chief of defense, said Lithuania would spend some €1bn on the base before its completion.
He called the project “a huge investment”, adding, “the brigade will work as reassurance to our population and as deterrence, to push the Russians out,” reports DW.
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