Approximately 120 Portuguese have been stationed in Slovakia since July
Prime Minister Luís Montenegro is visiting Portuguese military personnel of the first National Detached Force (FND) in Slovakia today. The approximately 120 military personnel have been stationed in Slovakia as part of a NATO mission since 2024.
Accompanied by the Minister of National Defence, Nuno Melo, and the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces (CEMGFA), General José Nunes da Fonseca, the PM will travel to the Lešt military base, located about two and a half hours from the Slovakian capital, after participating in the European Council in Brussels, focused on support for Ukraine and ‘not coming to any conclusions’ over the use of frozen Russian assets.
According to the schedule, Luís Montenegro will be received by Slovakia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense of Slovakia, Robert Kaliňák.
There will then be a military ceremony, an exchange of institutional mementos, a group photograph, and a lunch gathering with the Portuguese military, in a programme expected to last into the early afternoon.
The presence of Portuguese military forces in Slovakia began in July 2024, through a tank platoon of 24 soldiers, integrated into a Spanish battalion of the Multinational Battlegroup Slovakia (MNBG SVK).
Since February 2022, when the Russian Federation invaded Ukraine, NATO countries, including Portugal, have been reinforcing their military presence in Eastern Europe.
Under this mission, in July 2025 the Portuguese contingent in Slovakia increased to a sub-group of 120 military personnel (112 men and eight women), equipped with tanks, PANDUR II 8×8 vehicles and Spanish URO VAMTAC military vehicles.
This mission of the Atlantic Alliance in Slovakia – a country bordering Ukraine – aims to reinforce the presence of military forces on NATO’s eastern border, “contributing to deterrence and defence,” similar to missions in Romania, where Portugal has a contingent of approximately 300 military personnel.
A year ago, it was the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who travelled to Slovakia before Christmas.
Recently, the Slovak President, Peter Pellegrini, returned the visit and thanked Portugal for the military support given to Eastern Europe within the framework of NATO.
In December 2024, during his first visit as head of government to Portuguese military personnel on missions abroad, Luís Montenegro visited the Portuguese military personnel of the National Detached Forces (FND) in Romania, who are part of the NATO mission in that country, before Christmas.
On that occasion, the PM stressed that the coming years would see increased investment in security and defence, saying this increase could yield economic returns if the focus was on the industry within that sector.
At the end of November this yeaer, the Council of Ministers approved Portugal’s formal application to the European SAFE Defence Loan programme, worth €5.8 billion.
Source: LUSA
