The Czech Republic would like to participate in the reinforcing of the Eastern flank of NATO as of next year, either in Estonia or Lithuania, the Czech Defence Ministry writes about a meeting of defence ministers from the Visegrad Group (V4) countries held on Thursday.

That was reported by praguemonitor.com.

“As of 2018, the Czech Republic would like to take part in an allied battlegroup within the reinforced military presence, either under the Canadian command in Estonia or under the German command in Lithuania,” Stropnicky told his Hungarian, Polish and Slovak counterparts in Niepolomice.

The Czech military offered to contribute to NATO’s spearhead force with a battalion combat group in 2020 when Poland will be leading this force.

The Czech Republic wants to support the very high readiness joint task force as much as possible, the ministry writes.

The V4 defence ministers talked about NATO’s reinforced military presence on its Eastern flank, the ministry writes on its website.

On January 11, Czech troops launched the Training Bridge 2017 exercise in Lithuania, within which Czech, Slovak, Polish and Hungarian units will gradually take their turns in the Baltics. This exercise is organised in reaction to the Baltic concerns about Russia. The Czech troops will stay in Lithuania until March.

Stropnicky said Czech soldiers may also train along with U.S. troops deployed in Europe within exercises that will take place in V4 countries.