K. Budrys: lesson number one – we should trust our allies more

„If we have to draw some lessons from this whole Lithuanian reaction and the way we have been dealing with Germany, for me, the number one lesson is that all of us, collectively, I say we should trust our allies more, trust their word, communicate more and work on the areas where we say we need to work,“ Budrys told Žinių radijas on Tuesday.

On Monday, Pistorius, who was in Lithuania, assured that Berlin was ready to move a brigade-sized military unit to Lithuania on a permanent basis. However, when this will happen will depend on the infrastructure being put in place, the minister noted.

As regards Pistorius's latest statement, the Adviser to the Head of State does not agree that Berlin's position has changed in any way. Nausėda's advisor stressed that Germany's political commitments to Lithuania were clear before. According to him, several questions had not been answered so far, such as when the brigade would be redeployed to the country and to what extent.

„We have not had an answer on the date – that is the first thing. The second thing is the size of the brigade in Lithuania, what it will look like and what it will consist of. We did not have that answer. Now we have that answer“, Budrys explained.

„That is why I disagree with those who say that there was a change of position yesterday, that something new happened in Germany,“ he stressed.

However, when the German brigade will be permanently deployed in Lithuania, K. Budrys could not.

„We know the way to get to that answer. The working group of the two ministries (German and Lithuanian Ministries of National Defence) will continue to work and will continue to look into the needs for additional infrastructure – when it is possible to have it, what are the Bundeswehr's plans for development, the plans for the acquisition of armaments, when they could deploy the armaments in advance. And in this way, that date will become clearer“, the advisor to Nausėda said.

„In the near future, it will probably not be technically possible to do this (to do so – ELTA). There is no political reluctance to fix (the date – ELTA), but it is a big work related to planning,“ he explained.

ELTA recalls that German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius admitted on Monday during his visit to Lithuania that Berlin is ready to deploy a German brigade in the country permanently.

However, Minister Pistorius said he could not say exactly when a brigade-level unit could be deployed to Lithuania. He said this would depend on the development of infrastructure for allied troops.

Intensive discussions on the deployment of a German brigade in Lithuania have been ongoing since the autumn of last year. For some time, the country's politicians have disagreed on whether Berlin should be pressured to make a firmer commitment on the timing of a fully deployed German brigade in Lithuania.

Politicians also disagreed on how to view the communiqué issued last June by the leaders of Vilnius and Berlin – President Nausėda and Chancellor Scholz – agreeing on the deployment of the brigade.

In the context of this political discussion, Lithuania is developing the infrastructure needed to host the allies and their equipment. The construction of the Rūdninki military training ground has also started.