German Defense Minister in Lithuania for first foreign visit
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Germany's Defense Minister visits Lithuania amid rising tensions on Europe's eastern borders.
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Germany's Defense Minister, Christine Lambrecht
German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht is traveling to Lithuania on Sunday to visit troops stationed in the Baltic country, marking her first trip abroad since taking office.
The visit comes as Lithuania and its neighbors and fellow NATO members, Baltic nations Estonia and Latvia, are voicing security concerns amid rising tensions on Europe's eastern borders, with NATO conducting drills in the Black Sea near the border with Russia, prompting the latter to voice its concern on multiple occasions.
Lambrecht, who was named Defense Minister this month, will meet with her Lithuanian counterpart Arvydas Anusauskas to discuss the security situation, as well as bilateral ties, according to Lithuania's Defense Ministry.
The German Minister will visit around 550 German troops stationed at the Lithuanian military base in Rukla, as Germany leads the multinational battalion in the country.
Lambrecht backs stronger sanctions against Russia
The Defense Minister called for harsher sanctions against Russia over "its troop deployment on the Ukrainian border". She also told the German weekly Bild am Sonntag that those responsible for any aggression have to face "personal consequences", adding that Germany and its allies should put Russian President Vladimir Putin and his entourage "in our sights."
"We have to exhaust all the diplomatic and economic sanction possibilities. And all further steps should be agreed with our allies," she said.
Similar military units were sent to other Baltic states and Poland in 2017 after Russia's annexation of Crimea.
Rising tension in Eastern Europe
With tension still rising, Russia on Friday unveiled proposals to contain the role of the United States and NATO in Eastern Europe, calling for urgent negotiations with Washington.
The proposals call for the US-led NATO alliance not to bring in new members or establish bases in ex-Soviet countries, meaning that NATO must commit to not expanding further in the East, such as in Ukraine, and should also commit to abandoning military activities in the country, as well as in Eastern Europe, Transcaucasia, and Central Asia. Another proposal stipulates that Russia and NATO should not deploy intermediate- and short-range missiles in areas where they can hit each other's territory.
In the wake of discussions on Ukraine by EU leaders in Brussels last week, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said the current regional security situation is "probably ... the most dangerous it's been in 30 years."
