{"id":578550,"date":"2026-09-19T11:15:27","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T08:15:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reform.news\/?p=578550"},"modified":"2026-09-19T12:11:29","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T09:11:29","slug":"media-soldiers-with-relatives-in-russia-and-belarus-barred-from-service-in-german-brigade-in-lithuania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/media-soldiers-with-relatives-in-russia-and-belarus-barred-from-service-in-german-brigade-in-lithuania","title":{"rendered":"Media: Soldiers With Relatives In Russia And Belarus Barred From Service In German Brigade In Lithuania"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Several Bundeswehr personnel with family ties to Russia or Belarus failed the security screening required for service in the German brigade in Lithuania. This was reported<\/a> by Bild, Germany’s largest daily newspaper.<\/p>\n

According to the newspaper, the security screening classified these soldiers as posing a \u201chigh threat\u201d to security. They will not be assigned to the 45th Panzer Brigade, which is being established for permanent deployment on NATO’s eastern flank.<\/p>\n

The soldiers will, however, be able to continue serving in Bundeswehr units in Germany. Bild notes that they are also not prohibited from making private trips to Russia.<\/p>\n

The screenings are conducted by Germany’s Military Counterintelligence Service, known as Milit\u00e4rischer Abschirmdienst, or MAD. Its responsibilities include countering espionage and sabotage, as well as identifying security threats within the armed forces.<\/p>\n

In its annual report published in September, MAD said that Bundeswehr personnel who had visited Russia or Belarus had come under the scrutiny of Russian and Belarusian intelligence services. Such trips may create risks of recruitment, coercion or the acquisition of intelligence.<\/p>\n

Brigade Tasked With Protecting NATO’s Eastern Flank<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The 45th Panzer Brigade \u201cLithuania\u201d was officially established in April 2025. It became the first major Bundeswehr formation permanently stationed outside Germany since World War II.<\/p>\n

Germany is forming the brigade in response to changes in the security environment following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The unit is intended to protect NATO’s eastern flank and be capable of conducting combat operations independently.<\/p>\n

The formation is expected to reach full operational readiness by the end of 2027. It is planned to comprise 4,800 military personnel and around 200 civilian employees. Its main bases will be Rudninkai near the border with Belarus and Rukla, located near Kaunas.<\/p>\n

About 80% of the positions have already been filled by volunteers. However, several hundred specialists are still needed, primarily in logistics and information technology. Therefore, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius<\/strong> authorized the deployment of individual soldiers to Lithuania without their voluntary consent. According to Tagesschau, this involves several hundred personnel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Several Bundeswehr personnel with family ties to Russia or Belarus failed the security screening required for service in the German brigade in Lithuania. This was reported by Bild, Germany’s largest daily newspaper. According to the newspaper, the security screening classified these soldiers as posing a \u201chigh threat\u201d to security. They will not be assigned to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":578549,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sharing_image":{"poster":"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/6aae51c66138d.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"template":"691142dd","mode":"auto"},"_sharing_image_fieldset":{"dTVKfmI95PYT":"Media: Soldiers With Relatives In Russia And Belarus Barred From Service In German Brigade In Lithuania"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[142339,142338,143090],"tags":[143118,143122],"class_list":["post-578550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-main","category-news","category-politics","tag-belarus","tag-rossija"],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=578550"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":578553,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578550\/revisions\/578553"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/578549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=578550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=578550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=578550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}