U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis (L) shakes hands with Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite at the presidential palace in Vilnius, Lithuania, May 10, 2017. (Xinhua/Alfredas Pliadis)
VILNIUS, May 10 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis on Wednesday met with Lithuanian leaders and visited allied forces from the enhanced forward presence battalion to ensure of the US commitments to security in the region.
This was the first visit of the top US defense official in the region.
While visiting a training area in Pabrade, eastern Lithuania, Mattis told journalists that Allied troops from several NATO nations deployed in Lithuania make certain "that there's no misunderstanding that we all stand together."
Around 1,200 troops from an enhanced forward presence battalion, led by German forces, have agreed to be deployed in Lithuania following last year's NATO summit to strengthen security at the eastern flank of the Alliance.
Lithuania, a small Baltic state with a population of less than 3 million, asked for increased Allied support citing security threats in the region following conflicts in eastern Ukraine in 2014 and the upcoming military exercise Zapad 2017.
Mattis emphasized the mission of the multinational battalion is defensive.
"There's nothing offensive here, it is defensive, to make certain that the NATO alliance article five is understood by everyone -- at home, here in Lithuania, in the Baltic neighbors and certainly elsewhere in this region," the U.S. defense secretary said in his speech.
"It shows NATO can be interoperable and our troops can come together and work together, and, if necessary, fight together," he added.
Earlier in the day, Mattis met with Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite and the country's Defense Minister Raimundas Karoblis to address bilateral cooperation and measures to strengthen security in the region. The secretary also had working lunch with the defense ministers from Latvia and Estonia.
Grybauskaite highlighted that security challenges have been changing, and NATO and its decisions have to be adjusted accordingly.
She pointed out that the visit of the U.S. secretary of defense "sent a clear message that the United States placed special focus on Lithuania's, Latvia's and Estonia's security".
Rotational U.S. forces have been present on Lithuanian soil since early 2014 attending joint military trainings in the country.
