Germany starts deploying 5,000 troops near Lithuania’s border with Russia

Brussels – Germany is serious about rearmament. After announcing an unprecedented military spending in the history of the Bundesrepublik, Chancellor Friedrich Merz officially inaugurated the first permanent deployment of German troops abroad since World War II: the 45th brigade, stationed in Lithuania to protect NATO’s eastern border from the imposing Russian neighbor.

The large-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia in February 2022 was a watershed for Berlin. The then-chancellor Olaf Scholz announced a new Zeitenwende (‘momentous turning point’), putting 100 billion euros on the table to modernise the German army, the Bundeswehr.

His successor, Friedrich Merz, set even more ambitious goals: a massive 500 billion fund (although not all of it earmarked for defence), overcoming the constitutional debt limit for military spending, the activation of the safeguard clause of the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) offered by the European Commission as part of the ReArm Europe plan to avoid infringement proceedings. He also declared that he wanted to build “the strongest conventional army in Europe.”

Now, we move from proclamations to the proverbial boots on the ground: 4800 military and 200 civilian personnel will comprise the 45th Armoured Brigade stationed in Rudnikai and Rukla. The solemn inauguration occurred yesterday (May 22) in the presence of Merz, his Defence Minister Boris Pistorius, and Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda. The announcement of the establishment of the brigade dates back to 2022 at the request of the Baltic State; the unit was then unofficially activated last April and should reach full operational capability by 2027.

In Lithuania we are taking the defence of NATO’s eastern flank into our own hands:
Together, Lithuanians and Germans show that we are ready to defend Europe’s freedom against any aggressor.
Germany stands by its responsibility. Today. Tomorrow. For as long as it takes. pic.twitter.com/mceeVAj0d7

– Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz (@bundeskanzler) May 22, 2025

The Bundeskanzler assured that Germany is determined “to defend Alliance territory against any aggressor,” stressing that “the security of our Baltic allies is also our security.” According to the leader of the CDU, “Russia’s aggressive revisionism” poses serious risks not only for Ukraine but for the whole of Europe.

It is the first foreign deployment of the Bundeswehr since the post-war period. It is a move filled with symbolic significance far beyond geostrategic considerations, coming just weeks before the NATO summit in The Hague, scheduled for June 24-25. In Merz’s words, the Alliance must “sustainably strengthen European defence capabilities, and our defence industry must expand its own capabilities.”

Zeitenwende, in defence, is not only German, by the way. Vilnius announced it plans to reach the target of 5 percent of GDP in military spending – the new target that the US administration would like to impose at next month’s NATO summit – by 2026, while Berlin aims for 2032. Even neighboring Poland is working on a massive rearmament, considering, in addition to conventional forces, a modern atomic arsenal.

After all, this corner of Europe especially feels Moscow’s aggressiveness: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, once part of the USSR, are sandwiched between the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad (one of the most militarised areas of the Old Continent) and Belarus, de facto a satellite state of the Kremlin.