During the formal visit to Portugal Chief of Defence General Valdemaras Rupšys and his Portuguese counterpart Gen José Nunes da Fonseca have discussed continuity of Portuguese force rotations, security in the eastern flank of NATO and implementation of the NATO regional defence plans by conducting exercises and contributing capabilities. Generals also addressed international missions, strategy of long-term support to Ukraine and the international initiatives both countries adhere to.
Gen Rupšys was recognized for the exceptional merits and distinction in fostering bilateral ties, military cooperation and friendship between the nations with the Grand Cross of the Military Merit Medal, a Portuguese Presidential award bestowed only on the highest-ranking officials.
One of the main highlights of the discussions was the continued Portuguese rotational presence in Lithuania on the basis of the NATO Readiness Action Plan 2015 and the Assurance Measures.
“The state of 10 million people has an exceptionally clear global vision. The great Portuguese maritime discoveries have expanded the geographical knowledge of mankind and became a decisive factor for further development of the Western civilization. The role Portugal plays nowadays in ensuring European security, contributing to international operations in three more continents and the Indo-Pacific is a demonstration of excellent understanding that we are all interdependent in the global world and events in a faraway place may indeed have implications to our own security,” Chief of Defence said.
Despite Portugal’s’ geographic focus on the Atlantic region and Africa in terms of countering security threats, Portuguese marines, the fusiliers, are serving on a rotational basis right here, at the Kairiai Training Area in Klaipėda, training alongside our and Allied troops. They are assigned to the Lithuanian Great Hetman Jonas Karolis Chodkevičius Infantry Brigade Griffin and undergo the training cycle together.
The Portuguese military are a free-standing deployment in Lithuania rather than a part of a larger Allied contingent. It is a signal of a more generous contribution and financial burden logistically. In its turn, Lithuania is an opportunity for the Portuguese to train in a more adverse climate and geographically near to the potential aggressor while at the same time developing capabilities and expertise for countering cyber threats. Generals also shared insights about the context of hybrid threats and cooperation on cyber and information security.
Lithuanian and Portuguese Chiefs of Defence toured the Defence Staff, Joint Command, Army, Navy and Air Forces Headquarters, received the briefings on the situation evaluation, tasks and their uniqueness.
The Portuguese Air Force has been contributing to the NATO Baltic Air Policing Mission since 2007 and it is conducting the current rotation of the mission alongside the Spanish as well. Portugal is one of the Allies who have contributed the most numerous NATO Air Policing detachments.
Portuguese military personnel and units of the Lithuanian Navy conduct regular training in international maneuvers in the Baltic Sea BALTOPS, while as of 2022 May Lithuania has a contingent in the Portuguese-led EUTM-MOZ (European Union Training Mission in Mozambique).
