Germany vows to strengthen Nato’s eastern flank, support for Ukraine

Riga, Jun 7 (EFE).- Germany is one of Ukraine’s main providers of military support and backs the bolstering of Nato’s eastern flank, chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Tuesday.

“Germany is one of the main military supporters of Ukraine,” Scholz said during a joint press conference with Lithuanian president Gitanas Nauseda in Vilnius.

“Nobody supplies on a similar scale as Germany does. There are a few that also do a lot such as the United States of America,” he added.

Scholz was in the Lithuanian capital on his first official visit to the Baltics in which he held security talks with the leaders of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia to discuss bolstering Nato’s eastern flank.

Nauseda said Scholz had agreed to increase Nato’s defense capabilities in the region and that Lithuania was prepared to host more allied forces on its territory.

Scholz also talked about the allocation of around €100 billion ($106 billion) special fund toward bolstering the German armed forces, adding that this would help create a strong brigade in the Baltic region.

While some Baltic officials have supported having an allied division in each state, the Nato summit in Madrid at the end of June is expected to agree on sending a total of 3,000 troops to the region.

“Lithuania hopes that the Nato summit in Madrid will shift from deterrence to defense,” Nauseda said.

“We need to continue to strengthen the eastern flank, especially in the Baltic countries. We (the Baltics) want to continue the development of our military capabilities in air and sea defense,” Latvian prime minister Krisjanis Karins said.

Meanwhile, Estonian prime minister Kaja Kalla, who is facing a government crisis, praised Germany for increasing its military spending.

“When Germany is strong, Nato is strong,” Kalla said. EFE

jkz/mp/ks