Lithuania is considering abolishing a constitutional provision prohibiting it from possessing nuclear weapons
Lithuania is considering removing a constitutional provision prohibiting the deployment of weapons of mass destruction on its territory, following comments by the country’s incoming prime minister who said the restriction limits the country’s ability to take full advantage of NATO’s defense capabilities.“The geopolitical situation is getting worse. Our constitution was written when the geopolitical conditions were completely different,” President Gitanas Nauseda said on Thursday after meeting with senior officials and parliamentary faction leaders. Nauseda stressed that almost all parliamentary faction leaders agree that the ban is outdated and should be repealed.Nauseda stated that there are no immediate plans to store nuclear weapons in Lithuania, but removing this provision would ensure that the country is not restricted if security conditions change in the future.
“It would be really unfortunate if we became a weak link or a ‘gray area’ within NATO itself,” he said.Prime Minister-designate Mindaugas Sinkevicius said constitutional restrictions should be removed rather than revised, Lithuanian national television and radio, LRT, reported. “It seems to me that politically, it would be better to simply remove this article, because the constitutions of our neighboring countries say nothing on this issue,” he told members of the parliamentary factions.
Defense Minister Robertas Kaunas supported the proposal, saying that Lithuania “is practically the only country in NATO that bans nuclear weapons,” which “does not allow us to take full advantage of the defense potential of the alliance.”Kaunas noted that this debate comes after Finland lifted its ban on the deployment of nuclear weapons, and with NATO maintaining nuclear forces “for both defense and deterrence.” The discussion gained momentum after President Gitanas Nauseda vetoed legislation in May that would have allowed ships carrying nuclear weapons to enter Lithuanian territorial waters.
Analysts argue nuclear deterrent necessary
The proposal sparked debate over whether nuclear weapons would make Lithuania safer or turn it into a priority target. Analysts claim that the large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine and its nuclear blackmail led to a radical change in the security calculations of the countries located along the border with Russia.“Before the war in Ukraine, the main argument of opponents of firm deterrence was that Russia should not be provoked,” one analyst wrote.
But the Kremlin made it clear that it did not need any provocation.”The analyst noted that Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova did not threaten Moscow, but “that did not save them from Russian aggression.” He said the question was not whether Lithuania would become a target if nuclear weapons appeared on its territory, but rather whether “the absence of those weapons has made Lithuania and its neighbors safer.”“We must stop worrying about how to avoid angering Moscow. Our focus should be on ensuring that the rulers in the Kremlin never decide to test our willingness to defend ourselves.”
