Lithuania is moving to lift a constitutional ban on stationing nuclear weapons on its territory, with top policymakers arguing the change is needed as regional security is “getting worse.”
On Friday, 50 MPs submitted an amendment to change the law; a two-thirds majority in two parliamentary votes will be needed to pass it. Lithuania has a 141-seat house.
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The move follows the Finnish parliament’s “historic decision” to repeal its own ban and allow the country to host and transport NATO’s nuclear weapons in crisis situations.
“The geopolitical situation is getting worse,” Lithuania’s President Gitanas Nauseda told reporters after meeting with parliament party leaders on Thursday.
“Our constitution was written when geopolitical circumstances were totally different.”
Nauseda said there were no immediate plans to store nuclear weapons in Lithuania, but that removing the provision would let the country take action if the security situation changed.
Lithuania will remain a party to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, he added.
Parliament Speaker Juozas Olekas told reporters the amendments could be adopted by the end of this year.
Lithuania – a NATO member which shares land borders with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad and with Moscow’s ally Belarus – has tripled its defence spending since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
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Public broadcaster LRT reported the debate in Lithuania had gained momentum after French President Emmanuel Macron proposed a new European nuclear deterrence framework that could allow partner countries to temporarily host France’s nuclear-capable strategic air forces.
The US is also reportedly considering deploying nuclear weapons in several additional NATO countries in Europe, according to the Financial Times.
Lithuanian Defense Minister Robertas Kaunas said Lithuania was taking part in the ongoing discussions.
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