Germany sends tanks to Lithuania for NATO mission
GRAFENWOEHR- Germany began sending tanks and other equipment to Lithuania on Tuesday as part of a NATO mission to beef up the defence of eastern Europe and send a signal of resolve to Russia, which has denounced the build-up as an act of aggression.
The German army command said it was sending about 200 vehicles, including 30 tanks, by train to Lithuania along with 450 troops, the first of whom arrived last week. The transports would continue until late February.
Seven decades after the end of World War Two, the movement of German troops to eastern Europe, even on a NATO mission, remains a sensitive issue both in Germany and the region.
On Monday the U.S. military deployed thousands of soldiers and heavy weaponry to Poland, the Baltic states and southeastern Europe in its biggest build-up since the Cold War.
