Four military deals with NATO are in the pipeline for Lithuania, says former military commander Mart de Kruif. For example, more military headquarters are moving east, more troops, expansion of NATO’s military capability and troop readiness is being stepped up. ‘These are big packages, and it’s a hell of a job to do that. But it is crucial to maintain support for Ukraine and send some deterrence to Russia.’
“Packages are key to maintaining support for Ukraine”
De Kruif thinks keeping the Wagner Group at arm’s length also plays a role. Although the mercenary army will most likely no longer be part of formal foreign policy contacts. “But what is fundamental is that the two percent standard has been adopted as a basis for defense spending,” continues De Kruif. “This means that many countries must continue to significantly increase their defense budgets, including the Netherlands.”
Eastern ambition
Previously, Poland had also called for more NATO troops to be stationed on the eastern border of the NATO area, although this was not heeded. “The Baltic states and Poland have a completely different picture of the threat from the east than we do,” says De Kruif. “They are extremely sensitive to all movements of Russian troops, including the Wagner group. So they will react immediately and the move of the Wagner Group to Belarus is no exception.’
However, De Kruif points out that Poland is actually panicking over nothing, because the Polish army is “more than strong enough” to handle the remnants of the Wagner group. “So it’s definitely not going to happen,” he says. “But it shows that these countries are different in the game than we are.”