US not cutting troop presence in Lithuania, PM says

Lithuania is not at risk of losing any of the more than 1,000 US troops currently stationed in the country, Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė said in an interview with LRT.

“Next year, we will allocate record funding for defence,” Ruginiene said. “For us as a small country, 5.38 per cent of gross domestic product is quite a challenge, but this challenge has already produced a positive outcome.”

“Elsewhere, the number of US troops is being cut, but Lithuania faces no such risk,” she added. “We are mentioned by our strategic partners in a positive context.”

Her comments come shortly after President Gitanas Nausėda announced earlier this week that he had received a letter from US President Donald Trump praising Lithuania’s increases in military spending – a signal, Nausėda said, that Washington intends to maintain its strategic focus on the Baltic nation.

US forces have rotated through Lithuania since spring 2014, with heavy battalions deployed since 2019. The battalion currently stationed there was reinforced with an artillery unit in 2022.

By Sabina Mammadli