Lithuania: Army to the Kaliningrad border after the incident in Latvia

Units of Lithuania’s armed forces will be deployed to reinforce the State Border Guard Service on the border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. Interior Minister Martynas Katelynas announced on Wednesday, October 7, that he had asked Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas for the move.

Katelynas described the deployment as a “preventive measure” and stressed that the situation on the border is calm. He explained that the decision was taken after the incident on Latvia’s border with Belarus, following an assessment of the overall security situation in the region, and because of reports that Russia may declare a mobilisation. “The deployment of troops is a preventive decision, so that we are prepared and able to stop similar incidents,” he said. The announcement was reported by LRT.

On October 6, according to Latvia’s armed forces, a group of at least 20 migrants escorted by masked armed men tried to cross the border from Belarus, with the armed men threatening the soldiers. A few hours later, masked individuals entered Latvian territory, damaged an electricity distribution panel and stole surveillance cameras.

The decision comes a day after the Seimas’s first vote to lift the constitutional ban on nuclear weapons and foreign bases, and while a German brigade is now permanently stationed in Lithuania. In September Moscow warned that it is ready to use its “entire arsenal”, nuclear weapons included, if NATO countries try to isolate Kaliningrad from the rest of Russia.