On March 13 Chief of the General Staff of the Republic of Croatia Admiral Robert Hranj conducted a formal visit to Lithuania, he met with Chief of Defence Lt Gen Valdemaras Rupšys to discuss bilateral military cooperation, joint training at international exercises and further plans on support to Ukraine.
“We are sharing experience and knowledge with the Armed Forces of Croatia on the development of capability development for the different operation domains, land and air, and on maintenance and operation of acquire technology. That will continue,” said Chief of Defence.
Chief of the General Staff of the Republic of Croatia met with Commander NATO eFP Battle Group Lithuania Lt Col Lars Neitzel, Commander of the Croatian Contingent, net with his troops deployed in Lithuania and viewed Allied equipment. The third rotation of the Croatian infantry company since the establishment of the NATO eFP in 2017 is currently serving in Lithuania. The eFP BG is led by the framework nation Germany, other force contributors being Belgium, Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Netherlands and Norway.
Lithuanian and Croatian military personnel are training in joint exercises and deploy to multinational operations as Allies. One of the first operations the Lithuanian Armed Forces deployed to was the United Nations Protection Force UNPROFOR in 1994–1996 in Croatia. From 2006 to 2010 Croatia was also contributing military personnel to the Lithuanian-led Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Afghanistan, Province of Ghor. From 2011 to 2013 four Lithuanian Air Forces helicopter crews were honing skills in mountainous terrain in Croatia, which is a vital skill for Lithuanian airmen with regard to the characteristics of international operations. Lithuania and Croatia also cooperate closely on mastering, maintaining and servicing PzH2000 – Croatian military are providing relevant documentation in their possession and their experience.
