Lithuania says it would pay the cost if US establishes military base

VILNIUS — Lithuania is ready to pay the cost to set up a permanent U.S. military base if Washington should agree to establish one there, Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevicius said on Tuesday.

On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump said he would consider Lithuania’s request for a permanent base: “They are friends of mine, they are great people, so we will certainly look at it.”

Lithuania, a member of the EU and NATO, borders Russia and Moscow’s close ally Belarus. The United States has kept an armored battalion of almost 1,000 troops there since 2019, in overlapping rotations, meaning the troops arrive and leave every few months.

Sinkevicius said he proposed turning this into a permanent presence at a meeting with Trump’s envoy John Coale last month in Vilnius.

“I’m glad that this idea is being taken seriously... This is a critically important guarantee of deterrence and security,” Sinkevicius wrote on Facebook.

“Our partners only need to make the political decision to permanently station troops, and Lithuania is ready to cover the costs involved.”

维尔纽斯——立陶宛总理明道加斯·辛克维丘斯周二表示，如果华盛顿同意在立陶宛建立永久性美军基地，立陶宛准备支付相关费用。

周一，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普表示，他将考虑立陶宛提出的建立永久军事基地的请求：“他们是我的朋友，他们是很棒的人，所以我们一定会认真考虑。”

立陶宛是欧盟和北约成员国，与俄罗斯及其亲密盟友白俄罗斯接壤。自2019年以来，美国一直在立陶宛驻扎着一个近千人的装甲营，实行轮换制，这意味着部队每隔几个月就会抵达和撤离。

辛克维丘斯表示，他上个月在维尔纽斯与特朗普特使约翰·科尔会面时，提议将此发展成一个永久驻军。

“我很高兴这个想法得到了重视……这是威慑和安全的一项至关重要的保障，”辛克维丘斯在脸书上写道。

“我们的合作伙伴只需要做出永久驻军的政治决定，而立陶宛已准备好承担相关费用。”