USA-MILITARY/EUROPE-LITHUANIA Lithuanian president confirms plans to station U.S. arms

Record ID: 151515

  • Title: USA-MILITARY/EUROPE-LITHUANIA Lithuanian president confirms plans to station U.S. arms
  • Date: 15th June 2015
  • Summary: VILNIUS, LITHUANIA (MAY 6, 2015) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF PRESIDENTIAL PALACE LITHUANIAN COAT OF ARMS
  • Embargoed: 30th June 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Lithuania
  • Country: Lithuania
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA1BR0AJLMK3D4R1184KRQ3JUHY
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite confirmed on Monday (June 15) that her country expects a decision to be made to station heavy United States military equipment in the region.
    Grybauskaite spoke after comments by a senior U.S. official on Saturday (June 13) that the U.S. plans to store heavy military equipment in the Baltics and Eastern European nations to reassure allies made uneasy by Russian intervention in Ukraine, and to deter further aggression.
    ""The plans are nothing new; they were announced in February, in a (U.S.) Senate document. They are a consequence of the agreement in Wales. They were made a year ago, it's only now that the foreign media have written about it. There's nothing new about it. We know about the decision, we support the decision, we are waiting for it. The decision to deploy military equipment here - light or heavy - was made a long time ago, during the Wales meeting. We welcome it and we are waiting for it," she said.
    Poland also confirmed they were in talks with Washington on stationing heavy arms in warehouses in the region and the country's Defence Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said he expected a decision soon.
    Earlier, a New York Times report said the Pentagon was poised to store battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and other heavy weapons for as many as 5,000 troops.
    Asked about the article, a Pentagon spokesman said no decision had been made about the equipment.
    The move would be the first time Washington has stationed heavy military equipment in the newer NATO member states in Eastern Europe and the Baltics that were once under the Soviet sphere of influence or were part of the Soviet Union.
    The proposal, which seeks to reassure European allies in the wake of Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea in March 2014, is expected to be approved by U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter and the White House before a NATO defense ministers' meeting in Brussels this month, the report said, quoting senior officials.
    As it now stood, the Times said, the proposal envisaged that: "a company's worth of equipment, enough for about 150 soldiers, would be stored in each of the three Baltic nations: Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Enough for a company or possibly a battalion, or about 750 soldiers, would be located in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and possibly Hungary."
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