The European Investment Bank (EIB) said it plans to lend €540 million for Lithuania to build a military base at Rūdninkai, south of the capital Vilnius.
The EIB said the initiative is strategically important for NATO’s eastern defence. Rūdninkai is near a narrow corridor that represents the only land route between the Baltic states and the rest of NATO and the EU.
It said the corridor, known as the Suwałki Gap, is bordered by Belarus to the southeast and Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave to the northwest.
“The new base in Rūdninkai will host a German brigade, strengthening the rapid-response capabilities of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in the region,” said the EIB.
“Construction of the Rūdninkai military site, which will be located 35 kilometres from the border with Belarus, is due to begin in 2026.
“The project will span 170 hectares, lay out 11 kilometres of roads and feature around 150 buildings including medical centres, residential units, training facilities, warehouses, hangars and helipads.”
EIB Group President Nadia Calviño said: “This is a landmark step in how we support Europe’s security. By financing large-scale military infrastructure, we’re demonstrating our readiness to meet the region’s evolving defence needs. It reflects the EIB’s growing role in safeguarding stability across the European Union.”
Calviño was speaking in Luxembourg, where she met Lithuanian Finance Minister Rimantas Šadžius.
The EIB Board of Directors approved the €540 million loan at a meeting in Luxembourg. The endorsement paves the way for legal and financial negotiations over the loan that are expected to be completed in the coming months.
The bank said: “The financing from the EIB is part of its recently expanded scope of activities in the areas of security and defence to include military investments that align with the EU’s goals of bolstering preparedness and crisis management. The approved EIB loan will be to private partners to be selected by the Lithuanian Ministry of Defence to carry out the project.”
Lithuanian Minister of National Defence Dovilė Šakalienė said: “This investment marks a historic milestone for Lithuania’s national security and NATO’s collective defence.
“The Rūdninkai military base will not only strengthen our defence posture but also serve as a permanent home for the German brigade – a cornerstone of NATO’s deterrence in the region. The EIB’s support is a clear sign that European resilience begins with shared responsibility.”
The Rūdninkai base will accommodate around 4,000 German troops and 750 civilian personnel. In April, Germany activated the 45th Panzer Brigade of the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr), also known as the Lithuania Brigade. For Germany, it`s the first brigade-sized unit to be based abroad permanently since World War II.