Lithuania says it would pay the cost if US establishes military base

Lithuania is ready ​to pay the cost ​to set up ‌a permanent ​US military base if Washington should agree to establish one there, Prime ‌Minister Mindaugas Sinkevicius said on Tuesday. On Monday, US President Donald Trump said he would consider Lithuania's request for a permanent ‌base: "They are friends of mine, they are great people, ‌so we will certainly look at it."

Lithuania, a member of the EU and NATO, borders Russia and Moscow's close ally Belarus. ⁠The ​United States ⁠has kept an armoured battalion of almost 1,000 troops there since ⁠2019, in overlapping rotations, meaning the troops arrive and leave every few ​months. Sinkevicius said he proposed turning this into a ⁠permanent presence at a meeting with Trump's envoy John Coale last ⁠month in ​Vilnius.

"I'm glad that this idea is being taken seriously... This is a critically important guarantee of ⁠deterrence and security," Sinkevicius wrote on Facebook. "Our partners only need to ⁠make ⁠the political decision to permanently station troops, and Lithuania is ready to cover the costs involved."