Lithuanian president to ask for permanent US troop presence

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda said he will ask the United States to permanently base troops in the country, Reuters reported.

The U.S. began deploying a rotational force of about 500 troops in Lithuania in 2019 to help NATO deter Russia from the alliance’s eastern flank.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Nausėda said he will be seek to make sure those forces would be permanently stationed in Lithuania.

“Of course we will be talking to the U.S. to make sure that the rotational U.S. forces would be in Lithuania permanently,” Nausėda told reporters, according to Reuters.

“That would be the best boost to security and deterrence that NATO could provide not only to Lithuania but to the whole region,” he continued.

The U.S. and NATO have been scrambling to bolster the eastern flank as Russia has amassed over 100,000 troops near its border with Ukraine. The country’s military buildup has sparked fears that Moscow could be planning an incursion against the former Soviet state, as it did in Chechnya in 2014.

Moscow has denied intentions of invading Ukraine, but has shown no signs that it would draw down its military posture.

The U.S. has put 8,500 troops on “heightened alert” to deploy, most of which would help the NATO response force — a multinational force of about 40,000 troops that can deploy on short notice. It has also deployed and repositioned over 3,000 troops to Romania, Poland and Germany.