Dutch Servicemen Set to Arrive in Lithuania for NATO Deployment

A number of munitions and 100 servicemen from the Netherlands will arrive in Lithuania on Tuesday and Thursday for a temporary deployment at the NATO multinational battalion in the Lithuanian town of Rukla in the Kaunas county, Lithuanian Defense Ministry said Monday.

VILNIUS (Sputnik) — Currently 400 German servicemen and 100 Belgian servicemen are deployed at the NATO base in Rukla, which is administrated by Germany.

"On March 21, around 40 items of military equipment of the Dutch mechanized infantry battalion will arrive in the port of Klaipeda city, among them the combat vehicles CV 90, the Fennek armed reconnaissance vehicles … on March 23, a group of 100 Dutch servicemen will arrive in Siauliai air base," the ministry said.

"More than 250 items of military equipment were already deployed in Rukla. The deployment of the German forces is almost finished. The Norwegian servicemen will arrive in May," the Lithuanian ministry said.

NATO has been boosting its military presence in Europe, particularly in Eastern European states, since the outbreak of the Ukrainian crisis, citing Russia's alleged interference in that conflict as justification for the move.

NATO’s decision to deploy four multinational battalions to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland was announced by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg after the July 2016 summit in Warsaw.