Germany's decision to send several hundred extra troops to Lithuania to protect against a possible Russian attack won praise from NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday.
The NATO chief said the country was "leading by example" after a virtual meeting on Thursday with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, conducted online after Stoltenberg was diagnosed with shingles.
Scholz announced the planned troop deployment in a visit to Vilnius on Tuesday. Germany already leads a multinational NATO battlegroup in the country.
Since 2017, the multinational battlegroup of currently 1,600 soldiers has been stationed in Lithuania with more than 1,000 members from the Bundeswehr. The battlegroup's size has increased from 1,200 soldiers in the course of the Ukraine crisis.
The NATO force is now to be expanded. According to information from German government sources, a total of 3,000 German soldiers will be part of it.
Of these, about 1,500 will be stationed in Lithuania, including the command of the brigade. The other 1,500 will be based in Germany.
NATO plans to make a final decision on the increased numbers of its troops in the entire Baltic region at its summit in Madrid at the end of June.
Stoltenberg's praise comes as Scholz's government comes under criticism from Ukraine about the speed of deliveries of heavy weaponry amid the Russian invasion.
The top NATO official also praised Germany's decision to change the constitution last week to pave the way for a landmark €100-billion ($107-billion) investment in the armed forces.
The constitutional change was necessary to finance the huge military investment through loans. The German constitution normally limits the amount of new debt that a government can take on.
