US fleets to be deployed to Lithuania through June
The US will today deploy a battalion of over 500 troops to be stationed in Lithuania near the border with Belarus until June 2021.
Lithuanian Defence Minister Raimondas Karoblis linked the increased US presence to Russian aggression in Eastern Europe. However, Moscow continues to the deny notion that it poses a threat to the region and has accused NATO of conducting bad faith destabilisation deployments.
Expect the US and NATO to use the deployment as a demonstration of military mobility and might against Russia, which has been steadily making moves to extend its sphere of influence. A controlled NATO presence in the Baltics will be especially crucial as a deterrent to Russia’s missile-launch capabilities in its exclave of Kaliningrad, wedged between Lithuania and Poland. The US hopes to further bolster its position by integrating the deterrence systems of Western European NATO members with their Baltic and Polish counterparts through efforts like joint military drills. The Kremlin is likely to counter by continuing efforts to garner regional influence through media infiltration. While tensions are unlikely to culminate in an actual confrontation, Washington’s willingness to pump funds into Russian deterrence measures signals a revival of Eastern Europe as a global hot zone.
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