Chancellor says Germany open to boosting troops in Baltics

Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Sunday said Germany was prepared to send extra troops to the Baltic states, before a 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, Mr Scholz told the ARD broadcaster.

Germany leads a Nato operation in Lithuania and has about 500 soldiers stationed there.

Mr Scholz said Germany was "ready to make a decision" at a Nato defence ministers' meeting in mid-February about sending reinforcements.

Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht earlier told the Funke media group that Germany was prepared to strengthen its presence in Lithuania.

"In principle, troops are ... available for reinforcement and we are now in talks with Lithuania about what exactly would be useful," Ms Lambrecht said.

The pledge comes amid growing fears that Russia may be preparing to invade Ukraine, with President Vladimir Putin amassing more than 100,000 troops at the border.

Russia denies it plans to invade but has demanded wide-ranging security guarantees from the West, including that Ukraine never be allowed to join Nato.

Mr Scholz is facing growing criticism of Germany's apparently ambivalent stance in the crisis and will travel to Washington to meet US President Joe Biden on Monday.

He will also meet the leaders of the Baltic states in Berlin this week and will travel to Ukraine and Russia later this month.

Mr Scholz, who in December succeeded veteran leader Angela Merkel, on Sunday insisted on Germany's refusal to send weapons to Ukraine.

"For many years, the German government has had a clear course that we do not deliver to crisis zones and that we also do not deliver lethal weapons to Ukraine," he said.

Mr Scholz said Washington did not consider Germany to be the "weakest link" in Nato.

"That is a false impression that does not prevail in Washington either," he said.