Lithuania, US to Sign Deal on Status of US Troops in Baltic Country

Lithuania and the United States are set to sign in mid-January a cooperation agreement to strengthen partnership in the security area and to define the status of the US troops on the territory of the Baltic country, the Lithuanian Defense Ministry said in a statement Monday.

VILNIUS (Sputnik) — According to the statement, the agreement will facilitate the arrival and staying of the US troops in Lithuania as well as the implementation of joint exercises and training.

"The document binding the signatory countries to uphold bilateral defence commitments will be endorsed by Minister of National Defence Raimundas Karoblis and Ambassador of the United States of America in Lithuania Anne Hall at a meeting at the Ministry of National Defence on January 17," the statement read.

It was added in the statement that this would be the first bilateral agreement between the two countries "that defines the status of US forces deployed in Lithuania in detail."

It was noted that the cooperation agreement would complement previous Lithuanian-US deals reached either bilaterally or within NATO, adding that the deal would come into force when ratified by the Lithuanian parliament.

Following the NATO defense ministers' summit held in July 2016, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the Alliance had agreed to deploy four multinational battalions to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland.