Off the wire
• Slight losses on Spanish Ibex-35 stock exchange  • Roundup: President Talon's election as landmark democratic changeover for Benin  • British FTSE 100 rises 0.20 pct on Thursday  • Spotlight: Turkey's U-turn in policy paves way for ceasefire in Syria  • Yemen's Houthis claim downing Saudi helicopter on border  • Foreign exchange rate of Euro to other currencies  • Albanian election body strips two MPs, one mayor of mandates  • Rival sides in E. Ukraine report first combat deaths since ceasefire  • Kiev releases 15 rebel supporters in goodwill gesture  • 4 children killed in house fire in Ukrainian capital  
You are here: 　 Home

US Senator McCain in favour of permanent presence of U.S. forces in Lithuania

Xinhua, December 30, 2016 Adjust font size:

U.S. Senator John McCain, chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, expressed here on Thursday his support for a permanent presence of the U.S. forces in Lithuania on a rotational basis.

"It is important that the U.S. forces which are taking part in military training are deployed permanently here," McCain told reporters in a press conference following a meeting with Lithuania's President Dalia Grybauskaite at the Presidential Palace in Vilnius.

McCain is visiting Lithuania together with the U.S. congressional delegation, which is meeting the Baltic country's high officials.

He added that the number of American soldiers would depend on the need, exercises to be held and joint operations with the Lithuanian military.

But he underlined that the decision on the issue would be taken later by the next administration under Donald Trump.

At the moment, more than 100 U.S. soldiers are permanently stationed in Lithuania on a rotational basis. Endit