NATO exercise Baltops: German Navy evacuates Lithuanian government in 74 minutes

“If the ‘green men’ (see box) cross our border, we will shoot at them,” said a high-ranking official in Estonia’s foreign ministry last April. Now NATO was practicing off the coast of Lithuania a scenario similar to the invasion of the “green men” in Crimea and Donbass.

“Unfortunately, in the Ukrainian Donbas we saw how quickly a government can be replaced,” explains Daniel Läzer, commander of the frigate “Sachsen-Anhalt,” which is taking part in the exercise. His task: Lithuania government to evacuate.

Into enemy territory by rubber boat

Two inflatable boats are being lowered into the Baltic Sea by the “Saxony-Anhalt”, as a Focus reporter who was able to watch on site writes. Eleven soldiers from the “Specialized Marine Forces” man the boats. Their faces are covered by balaclavas. They hold their G36 assault rifles in their hands.

A few kilometers away, an eleven-member Lithuanian “government” is hiding in a house on the coast. The crew on the inflatable boats has one hour and 15 minutes to evacuate the “politicians”. Some of them might be injured. If this is the case, a helicopter is available on the frigate for rescue.

After a 10-minute ride, the inflatable boats reach a wooden jetty. A Latvian officer on the coast gives the agreed identification signal. The German soldiers go ashore and secure the area in all directions. They also set up heavy machine guns.

Time is running out

Then the problem: not all members of the fictitious government are there. A look at the clock shows that they can wait 30 minutes. The soldiers then have to return without “VIPs”. Shortly before the deadline, salvation comes. The leader of the squad is informed by radio that they are complete.

However, there are only four members of the government instead of the announced eleven. One of them is too injured to be evacuated by rubber boat. The helicopter is informed. The soldiers secure a landing site and throw a grenade with colored smoke so that the helicopter can better see where it should land and which way the wind is blowing.

The helicopter landing proceeded without incident. Five of the soldiers bring the injured person to the helicopter on a stretcher. The machine doesn’t even stand on the ground for a minute before it takes off again fully loaded. The rest of the squad and the three healthy politicians return by dinghy. The whole event lasted one hour and 14 minutes.

“This feels different”

“It used to be said: Germany will be defended in the Hindu Kush,” says the leader of the German squad that went ashore in the inflatable boats to the Focus reporter. “But hardly anyone was interested in that at the time. “But since the war in Ukraine, the danger has become noticeably closer,” the experienced first lieutenant continues. “And that feels different,” he adds.

The squad imitated a scenario that, according to military experts, is currently extremely realistic, especially in the Baltic Sea region. For example, the Wall Street Journal wrote at the end of May: Several European security officials have warned that Russia could try to test NATO’s cohesion by launching an attack on one of the Baltic states, Swedish and Danish islands in the Baltic Sea or alliance areas in the Arctic.

Simon Misteli (sim), born in 1995, has been working as an editor at the news desk since 2024. He writes about a wide variety of topics with a focus on foreign stories.