On February 9-12 Commander of the NATO Multinational Corps Northeast Lieutenant General Jürgen-Joachim von Sandrart was conducting a visit to Lithuania. At the meeting with Chief of Defence Lt Gen Valdemaras Rupšys the guest discussed preparation for the NATO Summit in Vilnius and Lithuania’s expectations at military level. They focussed extensively on strategic level exercises and defence plans.
“I am grateful to General for his time spent on Lithuania’s defence planning and discussion about potential exercises. We were not only discussing our plans or were putting it down on a piece of paper but also toured in person the most important parts of Lithuania. Force assignment and deployment is part of every operation and every operations needs to be planned,” Chief of Defence said thanking the guest General.
Lt Gen J. von Sandrart toured the areas critical for defence in southern Lithuania and assessed every area of operations, newly prepared training fields, their conditions and level of development. The agenda of the visit also included a two-day debate on “Allies in Lithuania: Challenges Posed by Logistics and Interoperability. The Role and Experience of the NATO Multinational Corps Northeast.”
“As a Bundeswehr General, I can say that German commitments to Lithuania are ironclad beyond doubt. As a NATO officer who area of responsibility includes Lithuania I state clearly that NATO responsibility and commitment is to defend all Allies, including Lithuania,” said Lt Gen J. von Sandrart during the visit.
The Headquarters Multinational Corps Northeast (HQ MNC NE) is based in Szczecin, Poland. It is responsible for Allied Land Command operations, including deployment of the NRF in the northeastern part of the Alliance. It provides coordination to NATO capabilities deployed in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.
Photo credit: Pte 1st Class Eitvydas Matačinskas
