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NATO troops in Lithuania indicate unity of allies: president

Xinhua, February 8, 2017 Adjust font size:

Deployment of NATO forces in Lithuania and other Baltic states indicates that the Alliance remains united, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite said Tuesday.

She was speaking after greeting the first troops from the NATO enhanced forward presence (EFP) battalion at the country's Rukla Training Regiment.

"Lithuania has never had allies of this scale and integrity. This deployment sends the clear and important signal that NATO remains strong and united organization," Grybauskaite was quoted as saying by local media.

The NATO EFP troops alongside with rotational NATO troops were also welcomed by German and Lithuanian defense ministers Ursula von der Leyen and Raimundas Karoblis.

EFP troops from Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands in Lithuania took part in the ceremony in Rukla. They were joined by U.S. and Czech rotational troops deployed for training period in Lithuania, and soldiers representing different units of the Lithuanian Armed Forces.

The EFP battalion in Lithuania is led by Germany. In 2017-2018, the 1,200-strong battalion will be manned by Germany and with several contributing nations.

The decision to establish an EFP battalion to the Baltic States and Poland was taken at the NATO Summit in Warsaw in June 2016. NATO heads of state and governments adopted the decision in response to the Ukrainian crisis and the changing geopolitical situation.

Allied battalions will be also deployed to other countries of the region, news agency Elta reports. High-readiness multinational units will arrive in Poland in March, in Estonia in April and Latvia in June. They will be led by the United States, Britain and Canada respectively.

Some 4,000 troops and equipment from the United States have been stationed in Poland on a bilateral basis to rotate in the three Baltic States. Enditem