On Monday, the Lithuanian foreign minister left the consultations with his EU colleagues in Brussels because he still wanted to get rid of an important message: "We, all three Baltic states, believe that troop reinforcements on the eastern flank are urgently needed," Gabrielius Landsbergis said during an impromptu press conference.

One is very happy about the reinforcement of the Bundeswehr.

This leads the Battlegroup in Lithuania and recently sent 350 additional soldiers.

The security situation is changing so quickly that "another battalion is needed in Lithuania or in the Baltic States."

Thomas Gutschker

Political correspondent for the European Union, NATO and the Benelux countries based in Brussels.

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It was only a day before the call was answered.

On Tuesday evening, US President Joe Biden announced that he had ordered more troops to be deployed to the Baltic States.

Specifically, it is about 800 paratroopers currently stationed in Italy, as specified by the Pentagon, and twenty Apache attack helicopters.

Another twelve Apaches come to Poland.

In addition, up to eight F-35 fighter jets are to be relocated to the eastern flank.

Both the F-35s and Apaches are withdrawn from Germany.

A political, a military signal

True, this bears no relation to the capabilities that Moscow has concentrated on the Ukrainian borders.

But it is NATO's response to Russia's growing rapprochement with its allies.

In Ukraine, it would be if the Kremlin actually launched a major invasion.

In Belarus, on the other hand, there are already more than 30,000 Russian soldiers.

Contrary to what was announced, they were not withdrawn after the recent major exercise.

On top of that, the Belarusian armed forces are increasingly receiving their orders from Moscow, Landsbergis said in Brussels.

He also referred to the forthcoming constitutional referendum in Belarus, which will abolish the neutrality clause.

Against this background, NATO is sending out two signals.

The first is political: the Americans, previously only present in Poland, are now going to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

For these countries, this is the strongest conceivable reassurance, because a conflict would immediately affect the United States as a nuclear power.

"The American presence will strengthen Latvia's defenses," said Latvian Defense Minister Artis Pabriks, "and make our society feel safer, especially in the face of Russia's aggression in Ukraine."

The second signal is military.

The heavy Apache helicopters are designed as “tank destroyers”; they have only been seen during exercises in the Baltic States, but have not been stationed there.

The F-35, on the other hand, is currently the most modern combat aircraft in the world.

This type was used for airspace surveillance in the Baltic States for the first time last spring, when there were four machines from the Italian Air Force.

It is considered NATO's answer to the most modern Russian air defense system S-400.

This is relevant because Russia has now deployed two battalions with this system in Belarus, one near Minsk and the other in the south near the Ukrainian border.

Since it can work in a radius of up to 400 kilometers, it affects large parts of NATO air surveillance in the Baltics and Poland, in addition to the S-400 batteries in Kaliningrad.

Because of the low radar signature, the stealth fighters could get close enough to the Russian systems if the worst came to the worst, say experts, to undetected trigger their special anti-radar missiles.

There are, of course, other views on this.

The topic "F-35 versus S-400" is one of the major controversial issues in specialist forums.

But if there's one plane that could take out Russian defenses, it's this one.

There is also a lot to come for the Bundeswehr

Another decision made people sit up and take notice: At the end of last week, the Commander-in-Chief for Europe put the NATO Response Force on increased alert.

This rapid reaction force of the Alliance always consists of three multinational contingents, each with around 15,000 soldiers.

One contingent is actively on duty for one year (stand-by), one is preparing for it (stand-up) and one is on standby after active duty (stand-down).

If necessary, all 45,000 soldiers should be able to be transferred to a conflict area.

So far, the time between the alert and the beginning of the transfer ("notice to move") was seven days for the majority of the active contingent;

this was reduced to five days before Christmas.

For the other two contingents it was 45 and 30 days - now there are only seven.

This has enormous consequences for the troops involved, and not just in terms of the soldiers' holiday plans.

You have to be fully equipped, even in stand-up mode.

This applies in particular to the Bundeswehr, which will provide the active contingent next year, the so-called spearhead.

In view of the economy of shortages, which the defense minister recently noticed, the Bundeswehr can actually only fully equip active troops, the material is then withdrawn elsewhere.

With a response time of seven days, however, this is no longer possible.

The tanks have to be in the yard ready to go, small equipment has to be packed in containers.

The troops, in this case Panzergrenadierbrigade 37 from Saxony and Thuringia, have a lot to look forward to - just like those units