Site of a new military site to be built in Rūdninkai, Lithuania.

NATO Member Building $1 Billion Military Base
Near Border With Russian Ally
Joe Edwards / Newsweek

(August 20, 2024) — Lithuania has begun constructing a military campus that will house up to 4,000 German troops in Rūdninkai, a southeastern region of the Baltic country near the border with Belarus, which shares close ties with Russia.

The cost of project is estimated to be upwards of $1 billion, according to Reuters, and it’s one of the largest military projects in the country’s history.

In a statement on X, Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė said: “One more step towards the security of Lithuania and its allies: today sending a message to our future generations we officially began development of the infrastructure military campus for the German brigade. We do not threaten, just making sure that, if anyone wants to test our strength, they will lose the desire to do so.”

The facility will also be used for tank storage and maintenance, and will include shooting ranges of various sizes, Reuters reported.

Newsweek has contacted the Lithuanian defense ministry for comment.

Lithuania’s defense spending in 2024 amounted to 2.77 percent of GDP, with targets set on 3 percent, according to official reports. This is above the NATO guideline of 2 percent.

The post on X said the new base will be built within three years.

Aerial view of new NATO base being built in Siauliai, Lithuania.

“This unprecedented project strengthens regional security and reaffirms our commitment to the NATO collective defense,” the ministry said. It described the base as Lithuania’s “largest-ever military project.”

Interior Minister Agnė Bilotaitė recently told reporters that several eastern NATO states plan to erect a drone wall along the alliance’s eastern flank.

“This is a completely new thing—a drone border from Norway to Poland, the purpose of which would be to protect our border with the help of drones and other technologies,” Bilotaitė said, adding that the plan will “allow us to protect ourselves from provocations by unfriendly countries, and prevent contraband.”

The Interior Ministry also recently announced that the NATO member state was preparing for the possibility of a wider war breaking out in the region by drawing up plans for a mass civilian evacuation.

The latest news comes after Kyiv claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin has lost two-thirds of Russia’s troops in Ukraine. Figures provided by the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said Russia’s total losses had surpassed 600,000.