German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius has described the start of a German brigade in Lithuania as a key step to improve the deployment capability of NATO forces and “an important day for the Bundeswehr.” “This is the first time that we have permanently stationed such a unit outside Germany,” Pistorius said on Monday in Berlin at a farewell ceremony for the preliminary command of the Lithuania brigade. Lithuanian Defence Minister Laurynas Kasčiūnas, who only took up the post last month, greeted the 21 German soldiers upon arrival at the Vilnius airport. Kasčiūnas called the deployment “very i…