German chancellor Friedrich Merz has just arrived at the Presidential Palace in Vilnius, where he is received by the country’s president Gitanas Nausėda ahead of the formal inauguration of the German 45th Armored Brigade “Lietuva”. The pair will speak at a press conference over the next hour, and I will bring you the key lines. Lithuania is not the only country concerned by Russia’s increasingly assertive posture. Finland has said it expects Russia to further build up troops along their shared border when the war in Ukraine ends, after reports that Moscow had strengthened its military bases near the Nato frontier. Maj Gen Sami Nurmi, the head of strategy of the Finnish defence forces, said the military is following Moscow’s manoeuvring “very closely” and that it was their job, as part of the Nato alliance, to “prepare for the worst”. The Finnish border guard announced on Wednesday it had completed the first 35km (22 miles) of a planned 200km fence on its eastern border with Russia, which has been closed for more than a year after Helsinki accused Moscow of directing asylum seekers to Finland in a “hybrid operation”. The fence also uses cameras and sensors to distinguish between people and animals crossing. Satellite images, published in the New York Times, appear to show an expansion of military infrastructure near the Finnish border, including rows of tents, military vehicles, renovations to fighter jet shelters and construction on a previously unused helicopter base. Nurmi said: “They are changing structures and we are seeing moderate preparations when it comes to building infrastructure close to our borders, meaning that they will, once the war in Ukraine hopefully ends, start to bring back the forces that have been fighting in Ukraine, especially land forces.” While this was not unexpected since Finland joined Nato at record speed in 2023 after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Nurmi said they were following the preparations “very closely”. “They are doing it in phases. I would say it is still moderate numbers. It’s not big construction, but in certain places building new infrastructure and preparing, bringing new equipment in,” he said. “You also have to evaluate whether they are preparing to send more troops to Ukraine or preparing to build up their forces close to our border. But I guess they are doing both.” Romania’s Constitutional Court has rejected the defeated ultranationalist candidate’s request to annul the presidential vote as a result of foreign interference. Despite conceding the defeat on Sunday night, George Simion later filed his challenge in a bid to overturn the result which saw him lose to liberal Bucharest mayor Nicuşor Dan. “Just as Călin Georgescu was removed and the elections were annulled [last year], we will challenge the election of Nicușor Dan for exactly the same reasons,” George Simion, an EU-critical, Trump-admiring former soccer ultra, said in a statement to local media. He repeatedly alleged electoral fraud without providing evidence. But the court has now unanimously rejected the request, saying in a brief statement that the challenge was unfounded. German chancellor Friedrich Merz visits Lithuania today to mark the official formation of Germany’s first permanent overseas military unit since the second world war, which is intended to boost Europe’s defences against Russia on the eastern flank of Nato. The armoured brigade aims to achieve full operational capability with 5,000 personnel by 2027, up from 400 at the moment. The deployment marks a major milestone in Germany’s thinking on defence and security, and is unprecedented in the postwar era. But it reflects growing concerns in this part of the world about Russia’s increasingly assertive posture – with no signs it has any intention to end its invasion of Ukraine – and some lingering doubts over Donald Trump’s US and its readiness to support allies in this part of the world. Merz has repeatedly promised to spend more on the modernisation of the Bundeswehr, responding to worries about personnel and equipment shortages. As he starts translating words into actions, this looks like a strong message from Berlin – and one coming just weeks before Nato’s summit in The Hague, the Netherlands next month. We will hear from Merz, joined on the trip by defence minister Boris Pistorius, and Lithuanian president Gitanas Nausėda at some point this morning. I will bring you all key updates from across Europe throughout the day. It’s Thursday, 22 May 2025, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live. Good morning.
Author: Jakub Krupa