RUKLA, LITHUANIA, Feb 9 (Reuters) – The Netherlands will increase the number of its troops in a NATO battlegroup in Lithuania to 350 from 270, Dutch defence minister Kajsa Ollongren said on Wednesday.
The Dutch troops in Lithuania are part of German-led NATO international battlegroup, deployed in 2017 after Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula.
“We are committed to the Enhanced Forward Presence, and will increase the size of our troop contribution from 270 to 350 military personnel”, Ollongren said while addressing troops in Rukla military base in Lithuania.
(Reporting by Andrius Sytas in Rukla; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
Photo – A Dutch CV90 Combat vehicle at the military camp of Rukla, Lithuania. EPA/STEPHANIE LECOCQ
