GERMAN troops arrived in Lithuania on Monday for their first long-term foreign deployment since World War II.

About two dozen soldiers arrived in Lithuania, laying the groundwork for a further 150 to join later this year. The deployment is expected to be up to its full strength of 5,000 by the end of 2027.

“This is the first time that we have permanently stationed such a unit outside of Germany,” Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said in Berlin at a farewell ceremony for the preliminary command of Germany's Lithuanian brigade, according to news agency dpa. 

Mr Pistorius called it “an important day for the German army.”

In the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, Defence Minister Laurynas Kasciunas said that the move was “a great example” for all the countries on Nato’s eastern flank, on the border with Russia and its ally, Belarus.

“We will create such a defence and deterrence architecture that no adversary from the east will even think about testing Nato’s Article 5,” he told reporters.

Article 5 on collective defence states that an armed attack against one or more of the members shall be considered an attack against all.

After Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, Lithuania declared a state of emergency on grounds it might also be attacked.