The United States will maintain an armored battalion in Lithuania at least until early 2026, a senior Lithuanian official said in Washington on Friday (October 14th), citing the persistent threat posed by Russia.
The battalion has been stationed in the town of Pabrade, near the border with Belarus, since 2019.
Following a meeting in Brussels between the American Minister of Defense Lloyd Austin and his Lithuanian counterpart Arvydas Anusauskas, the latter welcomed in a press release the "
persistence of this American military presence in Lithuania
".
Lithuania, along with Poland and the other Baltic states, Latvia and Estonia, have been at the forefront of supporting Ukraine since the Russian invasion of that country on February 24.
The invasion has revived fears of a Russian attack on the eastern flank of NATO, of which the Baltic states are members.
Read alsoWar in Ukraine: why the military escalation with Belarus must be taken seriously
Russian attack on NATO unlikely
Speaking to the press in Washington, Kestutis Budrys, national security adviser to the Lithuanian president, considered a Russian attack against NATO unlikely, while noting that "
the (Russian forces) are not weakened to the point of changing the level threat to the alliance
".
"
Actions as we see them in Ukraine and attempts to involve Belarus even further in the military offensive against Ukraine are not likely to appease us
," he said.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko recently agreed with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on the deployment of a joint military grouping, without saying precisely where it will be deployed and how big it will be.
Belarus has already lent its territory to the Russian army for its offensive against Ukraine, but Minsk has not so far directly participated in the fighting on Ukrainian territory.
The entry of Belarusian forces into its neighbor would mark a new escalation of the conflict in Ukraine.
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