Germany and Lithuania finalized an agreement to station a brigade in the Baltic country, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius and his Lithuanian counterpart Laurynas Kasciunas said on Friday. The agreement underpins Germany’s promise to permanently station a combat-ready and independently operational unit in the fellow NATO country, in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which fundamentally altered the security situation in Europe. The German brigade is expected to be operational by 2027, with a permanent presence of up to 5,000 soldiers. They are to be deployed in Rudninkai and R…