Germany to send up to 350 more troops to Lithuania

BERLIN (Reuters) -Germany will send up to 350 more troops to Lithuania, Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht said on Monday, reinforcing a German-led NATO combat unit deployed there to deter a Russian attack.

Tensions have been building across the region since Russia moved more than 100,000 troops near its border with Ukraine.

Moscow denies planning an invasion, but says it is ready to take unspecified “military-technical measures” if its demands are not met, including a promise by NATO never to admit Ukraine and to withdraw some troops from Eastern Europe.

Germany’s defence ministry said the additional troops will start deploying from Feb. 14 – news hailed by Lithuania’s defence minister as “an important signal”.

“Germany, like other NATO countries, is sending reinforcements because the security situation in the region is very tense, our own concern for our security is not getting smaller,” Arvydas Anusauskas told BNS news wire.

NATO has deployed four multinational combat units with some 5,000 troops in total in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. They were sent there in response to Moscow’s annexation of the Crimea region from Ukraine in 2014.

These so-called NATO battlegroups, led by the United States, Germany, Canada and Britain, are meant to stall any attack in the region and buy time for additional NATO troops to reach the frontline if needed.

Germany has been criticised for refusing to supply weapons to Kyiv. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was due to meet U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House later on Monday and will visit Kyiv next week.

(Reporting by Sabine Siebold in Berlin and Andrius Sytas in Vilnius; Editing by Andrew Heavens)