The United States believes the rotational presence of its troops in the Baltic states is adequate to meet its commitments to NATO partners, US Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith told Baltic journalists at a press conference on Thursday.
“I don’t at this juncture have any information about the US making a shift from rotational presence to permanent presence. I think the judgment of our highest military commanders is that our rotational presence in the Baltic states is adequate and sufficiently provides for the commitments we’ve to the security of our NATO allies,” Smith said. “Rotational presence in our mind has been a success.”
Washington welcomes Germany’s decision to permanently deploy a brigade of its troops in Lithuania, she said.
“It’s really up to each individual NATO state to whenever or not to pursue rotational presence or the permanent presence. NATO here to support both of these efforts,” she said.
NATO takes the Russian threat to the Alliance very seriously, she underlined, adding that allies have taken a number of steps to strengthen the security of NATO’s eastern flank since the start of Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“What I want to do today is to assure our friends in the Baltic states and say this: we do not see that an attack from Russia is imminent. This Alliance is preparing to respond immediately, should Russia get any idea crossing the line into the NATO territory,” Smith said.
The US battalion will remain in Lithuania on a rotational basis until at least 2026. US battalions in Lithuania have been rotating since 2019.
Source: BNS
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