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Brunssum, the Netherlands, Tuesday 02 Jun 2020

NATO’s efforts to support member and partner nations continue tirelessly. End of last week, Poland dispatched nearly 70 tons of medical supplies to the Balkan states of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Kosovo and Serbia, helping them respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. This aid includes more than 10.000 litres of disinfectant and 100.000 face masks for each of the recipients. A convoy of seven State Fire Service vehicles set off from Warsaw on Tuesday to transport the supplies to the respective countries. Poland’s support responds to a request from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and North Macedonia for assistance that was coordinated by NATO’s Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre (EADRCC).

An armoured unit of the US Army has ended an eight-month stay in Lithuania. First deployed in the preparation phase of US-led Exercise Defender 20, the American soldiers were conducting maneuvers in cooperation with both their Lithuanian hosts and the German-led NATO enhanced Forward Presence Battlegroup Lithuania. Since the exercise was scaled down due to the Corona pandemic, these troops are now returning to their home base in the US state of Texas via a stopover in Germany. Lithuania's Defence Minister, Raimundas Karoblis, said that apart from conducting their military exercises, the presence of the US-troops served as deterrence against any potential aggressor. “We need the presence of US troops here, but the most important means of deterrence are still NATO troops," said Karoblis.