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“The activation is still there, the exercises continue on the border with Lithuania, as stated. Only with the observation of their public statements, both from their Ministry of Defense and the political leadership, they no longer declare that they will continue the exercise. Therefore, it is assumed that these exercises, as planned, are coming to an end and the units conducting the exercises near the border with Lithuania will be deployed to permanent deployment sites, ”V. Rupšys told LRT radio.
“The situation is being monitored, it is being monitored by all means. We are ready to react if something happens,” added the commander of the Lithuanian Armed Forces.
At the same time, V. Rupšys rejected any speculation by Belarusian military and political leaders that NATO had increased its activity on the Belarusian border after the rigged presidential elections. According to him, all NATO exercises and the arrival of troops from Alliance countries were planned long before the unrest in Belarus.
“The statement by the Belarusian political and military leaders that there is some activation of the movement of NATO forces in Lithuania and Poland is not true. Everything that is happening in Lithuania and NATO now, the intensity in Lithuania is really planned a year and even earlier, ”he said, adding that the arrival of US troops in Lithuania was announced in July.
“The incoming US rotating forces are planned in advance … it was announced in July, before the elections in Belarus,” summarized V. Rupšys.
On September 4, US soldiers from the 2nd Battalion of the 69th Regiment of the 2nd Brigade of the US Ground Forces will begin to deploy to Lithuania for training. Together with soldiers from Lithuania and other allies, they will train at General Silvestras Žukauskas’s training ground in Pabradė, Švenčionys district.
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