Czech service members depart for Slovakia, ready to deter the opponent and defend NATO borders

Author: by Colonel Magdalena Dvořáková

The service members forming the Czech Armed Forces 1st Contingent NATO enhanced Vigilance Activity (eVA) Battle Group Slovakia departed from Pardubice and Chrudim. The contingent commanding officer Colonel Tomáš Unzeitig and the service personnel forming the command of the Multinational Battle Group eVA took off from the Pardubice based Operations Support Centre. Airborne soldiers who will form the core of the multinational combined infantry battalion started out from the barracks of the 43rd Airborne Regiment in Chrudim with commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Ivo Zelinka.

General Aleš Opata saluted the paras before their departure. “It is a historical moment and an expression of NATO’s confidence in our abilities, based on which we were entrusted with the development of the battlegroup. We were able to form the whole contingent in a very short period of time. Airborne soldiers deploy to Slovakia till June and then will be relieved by a mechanised unit with Pandurs,” the General Opata commented on the new mission for the Czech Armed Forces.

The eVA Battlegroup’s Initial Operational Capability will first be provided by 250 service members. The strength will progressively increase to 650 personnel at the end of June to achieve the Full Operational Capability.

The NATO eVA Battle Group Slovakia will be under Czech command and its first commanding officer is Colonel Unzeitig, the Deputy Commander of the 31st Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defence Regiment based in Liberec. The Battle Group will comprise of service personnel from Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and the United States. With the mandate endorsed by the Slovak Parliament, the Battle Group may comprise up to 2,100 personnel.

“Our Armed Forces already have an experience with commanding multinational operations. This is the first time a NATO operation is prepared and developed with the participation of NATO nations under the Czech command,“ Colonel Unzeitig expanded. “The primary mission is to manifest readiness, resolve and unity of the nations to defend NATO’s territorial integrity. This is a NATO multinational operation designed to enhance the defence capabilities of the Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic.“

The Czech contingent will be at least 400 strong, to include a Military Police team plus combat support and combat support service units. Its first commanding officer is Lieutenant Colonel Ivo Zelinka, the Deputy Commander of the 43rd Airborne Regiment.

“The mission of the combined infantry battalion will be to deter potential opponents and, should the security situation deteriorate, to defend the Alliance’s borders. For that, I have a mandate for manoeuvre across the whole territory of the Slovak Republic,“ Lieutenant Colonel Zelinka explained.

As part of building up to the required full operational capability, the unit will increase its personnel strength with the new rotation involving the service members of the mechanised battalion of the 4th Rapid Deployment Brigade.

The formation of a battle group in Slovakia is a part of the Alliance’s overall endeavour to strengthen its Eastern Flank in response to the worsened security situation in Ukraine. NATO therefore decided to create a permanent Allied presence in Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria under umbrella name of enhanced Vigilance Activities (eVA).

Additional information:

• The Czech Government authorised a mandate for the deployment of our military contribution on 9 March 2022 and the Defence Committee of the Chamber of Deputies endorsed it only a day later. In the Senate, the material was first deliberated in the Foreign, Defence and Security Committee on 15 March 2022 and later endorsed by the Senate Plenum on 17 March 2022.
• The Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic endorsed a mandate on 24 March 2022 for up to 650 service members of the Czech Armed Forces to be deployed to Slovakia until June 2023. The deliberations at the Plenum of the Chamber of Deputies was the last step necessary for the Czech Armed Forces to start building the NATO Battle Group under its command.
• The mandate also includes a logistic unit of approximately 50 service members to provide for the operation of a humanitarian base for Ukrainian refugees near Liptovský Mikuláš.