MOSCOW. Feb 6 (Interfax-AVN) - The commander-in-chief of Lithuania's armed forces has argued that Lithuanian military training sites are too small for planned U.S. army exercises.
"American tanks and other weapomry would have too little space at Lithuanian training sites. So, most likely, the U.S. tank and mechanized infantry units will be deployed not in Lithuania but at the Adazi training site in neighboring Latvia," a statement on the Baltnews.lt news website quoted Maj. Gen. Jonas Vytautas Zukas as saying.
The Lithuanian Defense Ministry confirmed Zukas' words.
"The military points out that Lithuanian training sites would only have enough room for a tank or mechanized infantry company to exercise. There are no conditions for combat training by tank battalions with combat fire practice," Baltnews.lt said.
The Defense Ministry said the Adazi site, which in the Soviet era was the main training facility for the army units of the Soviet Union's Baltic Military District, matches the purpose much better.
The ministry said the U.S. and NATO command were increasingly in favor of Adazi as the site of the planned American exercises.