Scholz says Germany open to boosting troops in Baltics

Berlin: Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Sunday said Germany was prepared to send extra troops to the Baltic states, ahead of a key trip to Washington where he will seek to bolster his influence in the Ukraine crisis.

"We are... prepared to do whatever is necessary to strengthen" Germany’s presence in Nato operations in the Baltics, Scholz said in an interview with the ARD broadcaster. Germany leads a Nato operation in Lithuania and has around 500 soldiers stationed there. Asked whether reinforcements could be agreed at a Nato defence ministers’ meeting in mid-February, Scholz said: "We are ready to make a decision."