"We are not interested in having the extension of Russia on our borders for many reasons," Lithuania's Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys said of neighbouring Belarus.
Those concerns are part of the reason for the Bundeswehr's first permanently stationed combat brigade abroad in its 71-year history.
By the end of 2027, around 5,000 German soldiers will be permanently stationed in Lithuania, just a few kilometres from the Belarusian border, to help protect NATO's eastern flank.
The Lithuania Brigade – officially Panzerbrigade 45 – will be the Bundeswehr's first permanent overseas deployment since it was founded in 1955.
Budrys added there are some independent actions they see coming from Belarus, which are often connected to hybrid activities against Lithuania, such as instrumentalising migration, using meteorological balloons to violate the country's airspace, as well as Belarussian security services harassing the exiled opposition.
