- Category
- Latest news
Lithuania Mobilises 2,000 in Its Biggest Defence and Civil Readiness Drill Since Independence
- Authors
![Photo of Roman Kohanets]( "Photo of Roman Kohanets")
-111f0e5095e02c02446ffed57bfb0ab1.jpeg "Photo of Roman Kohanets")
Lithuania on Monday began “Vyčio Skliautas 2025,” a nationwide mobilisation exercise running through October 11 that officials describe as the country’s largest-ever test of crisis readiness.
The government said the drills involve all 60 municipalities, more than 100 institutions and agencies—115 in total—and about 2,000 participants, including roughly 1,200 officials and officers and around 1,000 volunteers.
According to the Office of the Government, the exercise is designed to assess how effectively Lithuania could reorganize and pool resources to defend the country and maintain critical services during a security crisis.
“In these challenging times, Lithuania’s institutions, NGOs and citizens are doing a great deal to prepare for emerging threats. This unity is our strength,” Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė said in a statement, adding that “even the best plans must be tested in practice.”
Scenarios will cover responses to both conventional and hybrid threats, including evacuation of civilians and the activation of public alert systems through warning sirens, mobile notifications and media messages.
The plan also includes practical evacuation drills from Vilnius railway station to other municipalities and a dedicated test of air-raid responses—evaluating the ability to detect and neutralize aerial threats and the coordination among the Armed Forces, State Border Guard Service, Dignitary Protection Service and Police.
Hospitals will practice switching to mobilisation mode to ensure continuity of care, while local commandant units will train to protect critical infrastructure in cooperation with civilian agencies. “The exercises will help verify institutional readiness to operate under mobilisation conditions, ensure continuity of operations, test civilian–military cooperation and identify weak spots,” Deputy Defense Minister Tomas Godliauskas said.
The State Mobilisation Operations Centre—drawing staff from the Office of the Government, all ministries, the Mobilisation and Civil Resistance Department, the State Security Department, the Armed Forces’ Defense Staff, the Supreme Court, the Bank of Lithuania and others—will coordinate essential state functions during the drill. NGOs and four major food retail chains are also participating as part of continuity-of-service planning.
Earlier, it was reported that Russia is conducting joint “Zapad 2025” exercises with Belarus, intended to rehearse defensive actions and projecting ambiguity about threat intent toward neighboring states.
-29ed98e0f248ee005bb84bfbf7f30adf.jpg)
