BERLIN (Reuters) – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz signalled on Sunday he was open to deploying extra troops to Lithuania to bolster NATO’s jap flank in response to a build-up of Russian troops close to the borders of Ukraine.
The US already ordered about 3,000 additional troops to bolster NATO in Poland and Romania in response to the fears of a Russian invasion of the previous Soviet republic.
“We’re able to do all that’s essential to strengthen” the German-led battlegroup in Lithuania, Scholz mentioned in an interview with ARD broadcaster shortly earlier than his in a single day flight to Washington to satisfy with U.S. President Joe Biden.
The chancellor mentioned he would talk about this with the heads of the three Baltic states who’re set to go to him in Berlin subsequent Thursday.
He nonetheless as soon as extra dominated out weapons deliveries to Ukraine as a consequence of Germany’s coverage to not ship arms to battle zones – a stance rooted within the nation’s bloody twentieth century historical past that has come beneath scrutiny of late.
NATO deployed 4 multinational fight items which have some 5,000 troops in whole to Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in response to Moscow’s annexation of the Crimea area from Ukraine in 2014.
These so-called NATO battlegroups, led by the USA, Germany, Canada and Britain, are supposed to stall an assault within the area and purchase time for extra NATO troops to achieve the frontline.
Scholz mentioned he noticed some enchancment within the tensions between the West and Russia with a rise in dialogue whether or not between the USA and Russia or within the so-called Normandy format of talks between France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine.
“That had been lifeless for a very long time,” he mentioned in a separate interview with RTL broadcaster.
(Reporting by Sarah Marsh, Markus Wacket and Andreas Rinke; Modifying by Raissa Kasolowsky)
Supply: KFGO
