SPD and Union parliamentary group leaders, Matthias Miersch and Thorsten Frei, are scheduled to visit the NATO Eastern Flank in Lithuania on Monday. Miersch stated to the news portal T-Online that the purpose of the trip is to assess the current situation along the NATO Eastern Flank and to visit the German soldiers of the Lithuanian brigade. The SPD politician made it clear that the visit is not intended to be a public spectacle, adding that journalists will not accompany them.
Lithuania, which shares borders with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad and the Russian ally Belarus, feels particularly threatened since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. As part of the response to heightened security concerns, a fully operational German combat brigade (“Panzerbrigade 45”) is planned to be stationed in the country by the end of 2027. This brigade, which includes 4,800 soldiers and 200 civilian employees, is being viewed as a critical “beacon project” of the historic shift in German defense policy.
