Growing Russian Threat to Baltics – Lithuania Works on Capital Evacuation Plans

City officials, from Lithuania’s capital Vilnius published details of its emergency evacuation plan on Thursday, April 24, which it said addressed how to safeguard its citizens from “military threats, a nuclear accident or other major emergency.”

Lithuania’s national radio and television service published details of the plan along with criticism of what experts termed obvious shortcomings.

Evacuation notices would be promulgated by way of sirens and messages sent via a specially developed smartphone app similar to that employed in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities. It recommended that citizens should prepare “pre-packed emergency bags.”

In an indication that Lithuania and the other Baltic states fear the threat from Russia is imminent, city council defense advisor Aurimas Navys said that evacuation kits “should be made now, not when you have to leave your home.” He added that individuals should ask themselves: “Will I need assistance? Will I go on my own? Or even on foot? If that’s your thing.”

The city plan includes advice on the options for leaving, either by using their own personal vehicles or collective, city-organized transportation. The former is based on three primary evacuation corridors: north – to Panevezys and Siauliai, west – to Klaipeda and Kaunas, and south – to Alytus and then the Polish border.

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Collective evacuation would be by buses departing from designated schools and kindergartens situated throughout Vilnius.

City officials including Mayor Valdas Benkunskas admitted there were shortcomings in the plan, including that “some roads could become heavily congested” despite the efforts of the police and civil defense organizations to put “traffic control” measures in place during such events, despite route diversification.

Former mayor, Arturas Zuokas, was less complimentary describing the scheme as “an insult to common sense,” before adding that Vilnius’ roads “Were never designed or planned for this. In a nuclear incident or military threat, people would have to flee through the fields.”

Benkunskas also admitted that the plan faced ongoing logistical and operational challenges and identified five key roads that were needed not only to facilitate evacuation but to enable military assets to mobilize – particularly in relation to the proposed forward deployment of the NATO-assigned German brigade, their infrastructure and families.

The mayor said these much-needed improvements justified state funding as they could not be met by municipal funds. He added: “Seeing clear goals, seeing limited resources, we heard from two ministries that these municipal infrastructure projects will be reviewed, which would be needed for both military mobility and urban evacuation are under review.”

On Tuesday, the mayor presented five key projects to the Ministry of National Defense (KAM), the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIR), and the Ministry of Transport and Communications, which are needed to “unclog certain bottlenecks” and “evacuate the city properly.” It is emphasized that once an evacuation is announced, the city should be emptied within 48 hours.