Lithuanian minister says NATO ready to respond swiftly to attack

Lithuanian Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas said NATO forces are stronger than ever and ready to respond quickly to any attack, LRT reported on Monday.

“NATO’s Article 5 is working,” Kaunas wrote on Facebook. He said frontline forces would block an attack at the border, while air and naval capabilities would help slow advancing enemy forces. If aggression continued, he said, NATO could use artificial intelligence systems and advanced technologies to strike targets deep in enemy territory.

Kaunas said NATO’s primary goal was to deter conflict. The alliance was working to prevent attacks as soon as signs of them were detected and to stop Russian forces at the borders, he wrote.

His comments came after NATO’s supreme military commander, Alexus Grynkewich, warned Russia that the alliance would “block, repel and defeat” any attack on a member country. Speaking at the Warsaw Security Forum, Grynkewich outlined what he called his “theory of victory” for countering an armed attack, amid concern over what Western officials describe as a Russian campaign of hybrid sabotage and interference.

Kaunas, who was also in Warsaw, said he had invited Grynkewich to Lithuania when the next rotation of US troops arrives. “US forces are also on NATO’s eastern flank, so let us trust the alliance more,” he said.

US troops have rotated in Lithuania intermittently since 2014. After a US review of its presence in Europe, just over 100 American troops remained in the country this summer. In late September, it was announced that two battalions would arrive in Lithuania in late October, bringing the number to more than 1,000, similar to recent years. US troops rotate in Lithuania every nine months, BNS has reported.