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Lithuania Moves to Lift Constitutional Ban on Nuclear Weapons on Its Territory
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Lithuania’s parliament has backed a constitutional amendment that would remove the country’s ban on weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons, being stationed on Lithuanian territory, LRT reported on October 6.
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The proposed amendment would remove part of Article 137 of Lithuania’s Constitution, which currently prohibits weapons of mass destruction and foreign military bases from being located on the country’s territory. The proposal under consideration concerns the provision on weapons of mass destruction.
Parliament Speaker Juozas Olekas said removing the restriction would strengthen Lithuania’s resilience and deterrence capabilities while eliminating legal differences between Lithuania and other EU and NATO members.
Opposition Conservative leader Laurynas Kasčiūnas, who supported the amendment, said Lithuania’s existing restrictions prevent allied aircraft or ships carrying nuclear weapons from entering the country for deterrence purposes.
“With the current restriction, we cannot fully participate in NATO’s nuclear deterrence plans. Since nuclear deterrence is the queen of all deterrence, this decision is strategically important,” Kasčiūnas said.
Lithuanian Defense Minister Robertas Kaunas also supported the change, linking the initiative to the security environment created by Russia’s war against Ukraine and the presence of strategic weapons in Belarus and Russia’s Kaliningrad region.
“We are responding to Russia’s aggression. If Russia had not started the war in Ukraine, we probably would not be having the discussions that we are having today,” Kaunas said.
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The debate over Lithuania’s constitutional restrictions also follows recent Russian nuclear threats involving Kaliningrad, the heavily militarized Russian exclave bordering Poland and Lithuania. On September 30, Reuters reported that Moscow had privately warned NATO it could resort to nuclear weapons if the alliance sought to isolate the region.
In a diplomatic note sent to NATO and reviewed by Reuters, Russia accused the alliance of pursuing a “dangerous and reckless course” that posed “high risks of the outbreak of a direct armed conflict.”
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