NATO Military Committee okays intl staffs in Baltics

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NATO's Military Committee on Thursday gave a green light to the establishment of multinational staffs in Lithuania and another five countries in central and eastern Europe and will submit the proposal to defense ministers, Lithuania's chief of defense Maj. Gen. Jonas Vytautas Zukas said.

«The decision is a yes. The staffs will be established,» the general told BNS in a telephone interview from Brussels.

In Zukas' words, the staff, which is directly subordinate to Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), may be stationed in Vilnius next to the Joint Staff, with half of the personnel consisting of Lithuanians and the rest of international forces.

Other similar staffs would be based in Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria, said the Lithuanian general. They should be in place by the end of 2015.

The plans are yet to be approved by NATO defense ministers in early February.

In Zukas' words, the discussion should also approve the plans of establishing a Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF) and raise the issue of the need for NATO to revise its strategy and look into new threats.

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