Chancellor Friedrich Merz warned Thursday that Russia threatened security in Europe as he visited Lithuania to mark the official formation of Germany's first permanent overseas military unit since World War II, aimed at bolstering NATO's eastern flank.

The decision to build up a 5,000-strong armoured brigade in Lithuania over the coming years came in response to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

"There is a threat to us all from Russia," Merz told reporters in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius.

The German deployment is aimed at deterring potential Russian aggression towards Lithuania and fellow Baltic countries Estonia and Latvia, former Soviet republics that have become NATO and EU members and fear they are increasingly in Moscow's crosshairs.

Merz said Germany was determined to defend the NATO territory, adding: "The security of our Baltic allies is also our security."

While Germany has joined multinational military missions, including in Afghanistan and Mali, a pacifist tradition stemming from its dark World War II history meant Berlin was generally reluctant to do more.

The establishment of a permanent brigade overseas........

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