Contents tagged with Lithuania

  • The US to increase its military presence in Baltics during Russia’s Zapad-2017 military exercise

    The United States will increase the number of servicemen and military equipment in Lithuania during the time of the joint Russian and Belarusian military exercises, Zapad 2017, as stated by the President of Lithuania, Dalia Grybauskaitė, writes DW.

    She said that the number of US Armed Forces personnel, equipment, and vessels will be increased in Lithuania. Also, air patrol missions will double as seven US aircraft will arrive in Lithuania.

    The strategic exercises of the armed forces of the …

  • Russia: Deployment of Patriot anti-missile systems in Lithuania will destabilize the region

    The words of Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite about the appropriateness of deploying American Patriot missile systems in the Baltic can lead to an escalation of tension in the region, as relayed to RIA Novosti by Mikhail Ulyanov, Director of the Department for Nonproliferation and Arms Control of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

    On Thursday, Grybauskaite attended Tobruq Legacy 2017, a NATO Air Force exercise in Siauliai. In her speech, the Lithuanian President stated the need …

  • The President of Lithuania demanded that the US deploy its Patriot missile defense system in the Baltics

    On Thursday, President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė observed the progress of the Tobruq Legacy 2017 international military exercises in Šiauliai, where she stated that the US Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems should be placed in the Baltic region.

    NATO's Tobruq Legacy-2017 air defense military exercises were launched in Lithuania on July 11 and will end on July 22. They involve about 500 military personnel and 30 air defense personnel from the UK, the US, Latvia and Poland.

    Before the …

  • US deploys Patriot missile system in Lithuania for military drills

    A Patriot surface-to-air missile system has been deployed in Lithuania in order to participate in NATO’s anti-air defense divisions’ Tobruq Legacy 2017 international exercises, Lithuania’s Ministry of Defense reported.

    “The deployment of a Patriot demonstrates the firmness of the United States’ commitment to ensuring Lithuania’s security, and the high level of readiness to promptly relocate strategic forces to the region,” the department observed.

    During the Tobruq Legacy exercises which will …

  • Russian citizen in Lithuania sentenced to 10 years in prison for espionage

    Russian citizen Nikolai Filipchenko has been sentenced by the district court of Vilnius (Lithuania) to 10 years in prison on charges of espionage, Delfi news agency reports.

    According to investigators, Filipchenko, who was detained in Lithuania in 2015, is an employee of the Russian FSB.

    The Lithuanian Prosecutor General's Office detained him on a transit train during a trip through Lithuania from the Kaliningrad region to Belarus. The Russian citizen, according to the Prosecutor's Office, …

  • Lithuanian Parliament votes to send more military instructors to Ukraine

    The Lithuanian Seimas passed a law that provides for sending twice as many military instructors to Ukraine for training purposes, according to baltnews.lt.

    The vote took place on Tuesday. Of 114 Lithuanian parliamentarians, 103 voted for the bill. There were none who voted against it or abstained from voting.

    Up to 30 instructors from the Lithuanian army could be sent before this law was passed. But now up to 60 servicemen or civil servants of the Ministry of Defense of Lithuania can be …

  • President of Lithuania: Sanctions against Russia should be strengthened and expanded

    The West should expand sanctions against Russia, as the situation in eastern Ukraine does not improve, as stated by Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite before the EU summit in Brussels, Delfi reports.

    "The situation in Ukraine thus far only continues to deteriorate… In eastern Ukraine, a direct, real, de-facto inclusion of that part of the country into the territory of Russia has begun," said Lithuanian President Grybauskaite.

    She also pointed out to the fact that Moscow, with separatist …

  • Large scale NATO exercises begin in Lithuania

    On June 12, the largest multinational military exercises this year, Iron Wolf 2017 will begin in Lithuania.

    According to the Lithuanian Defense Ministry, the maneuvers will involve roughly 5,300 military personnel from Lithuania and nine NATO states: Belgium, Great Britain, the US, Poland, Luxembourg, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands and Portugal.

    The Iron Wolf 2017 exercises will take place in southern, central and eastern parts of Lithuania between the 12th and the 24th of June. In the …

  • Lithuanian president promises to help Ukraine block the NordStream-2 pipeline

    Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite, in the light of Brussels' preparations for negotiations with Moscow, has promised to help Ukraine block the initiatives to expand the NordStream gas pipeline, reports BNS.

    Ukraine, Poland and the Baltic states have declared that the NordStream 2 project will strengthen the EU's dependence on Gazprom gas. The pipeline will also reduce the importance of Ukraine as a transit country, which would strike a blow to the Ukrainian economy.

    Grybauskaite …

  • President of Lithuania calls Belarusian nuclear power plant in Astravyets 'a geopolitical weapon'

    The world clearly understands that the main threats to transatlantic security in the region are the militarization of the Kaliningrad region of the Russian Federation, the large-scale exercises "Zapad-2017" planned for autumn, and the Belarusian nuclear power plant in Astravyets that has turned into a geopolitical weapon, as stated by the  President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaite during her annual report to the Seimas, Delfi news agency reports.

    "The world that defends democracy today fully …