Four Danish F-16 fighter jets arrived on Friday January 28 at the Zokniai air base in Lithuania, which called for a strengthening of the presence of NATO allies on its soil in the face of Russian-Ukrainian tensions.
"
This decision comes at the right
time," said Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, greeting the Danish military, "
particularly bearing in mind the situation along the border with Ukraine
."
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The four Danish fighters will patrol the Baltic airspace until April 1, 2022 with the four Polish F-16s present in Lithuania since December 1. Many exercises are planned during these two months. "
The period is extremely worrying not only for Lithuania
", a NATO member country, "
but for all NATO Allies
", added the President, stressing that the concrete decisions taken by the Allies made it possible to "
build trust and feel safer
.
Lithuania is particularly worried about Russian troop movements in neighboring Belarus.
The forces that are moved there are "
much more numerous than during the Zapad military exercises
", noted Arvydas Anusauskas, the Lithuanian Minister of Defense.
Russia and Belarus have announced joint military exercises planned from February.
At the beginning of January, Denmark announced that it was deploying a frigate with 160 sailors as reinforcements in the Baltic Sea.
Six American fighter planes recently landed on the Amari base in Estonia to strengthen security in the region.