Overview

• President Frank-Walter Steinmeier concluded his Vilnius visit with a solemn pledge to station a permanent German brigade in Lithuania.
• The Bundeswehr’s Panzerbrigade 45 will expand into a 5,000-strong force by 2027 to bolster NATO’s eastern defenses against potential Russian threats.
• During a national holiday ceremony, Steinmeier warned that freedom “is not a state but a task” and urged constant vigilance to safeguard European values.
• He is set to travel to Latvia for additional high-level talks on Baltic security cooperation.
• Historian Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk has publicly questioned Steinmeier’s credibility on Russia policy and demanded a parliamentary reassessment of two decades of German strategy.