Rasa Juknevičienė, a Lithuanian lawmaker and former defense minister, is certain that Ukraine’s success as a free democratic country is a way to stop Russia’s expansionist ambitions.
To do so, Ukraine needs to keep boosting its defense capabilities which Lithuania successfully did.
It also allowed a former member of the Soviet Union to join NATO which Ukraine also sets as an ultimate goal. It was inevitable for a nation of three million to join the alliance because few of the Lithuanians thought they could stand alone against their powerful neighbor.
Russian annexation of Crimean peninsula in early 2014 pushed the country to increase its military budget and buy more military equipment. This year, the government has agreed to purchase 88 Boxer armored fighting vehicles from the German-Dutch consortium ARTEC for some $437 million. They come equipped with Israeli-made turrets. Now a tiny Baltic state is spending about $650 million on its defense and has planned to allocate nearly $766 million in 2017.
Lithuanian armed forces had a long way to secure their positions.
“We built our armed forces from scratch,” Juknevičienė explained in an interview with the Kyiv Post during the 5th annual Tiger Conference held at the Kyiv Hilton Hotel on Nov. 29. “New people came into the ministry of defense (after the collapse of the Soviet Union), so that was the first success. The personnel, (they were) pro-Western people.”
But many mistakes have been made, Juknevičienė who served as minister of defense from 2008 to 2012, explained.
In 2004, when the country joined NATO, many in Lithuania had an understanding that “the history (of their army) is over” and the government minimized the armed forces: “We were concentrating only on international participations, like (missions) in Afghanistan, for example, but not on our own defense and that was a huge mistake.”
According to Juknevičienė, Ukraine fell into the same trap during ex-President Viktor Yanukovych regime. “When I was visiting your country as the defense minister I saw that (the armed forces) were diminishing and you postponed conscripts,” she says.
Lithuania reintroduced limited conscription in 2015 after abolishing it in 2008, four years after the country joined NATO. At least 3,000 young people are enlisting per year since then, but it’s not enough for building a robust army, Juknevičienė adds.
For Lithuania, Finland’s example worked out the best.
“They have strong professional armed forces together with very well prepared reserve in case of mobilization,” Juknevičienė told the Kyiv Post. “We call it mixed armed structure. Professionals are the backbone of our armed forces and also we build up the reserve.”
Right now the country relies on 15,839 active military personnel, including 4,665 military officials in reserve. Also, there are around 12 percent of women in Lithuanian army.
“It’s popular to serve in the army,” the former defense minister said. In Ukraine, however, soldiering is still seen as a man’s job. Ukrainian women are not allowed to serve as sappers, military drivers, photographers or chemical warfare specialists. In all, there are at least 500 professions women are forbidden to take under the country’s unreformed Soviet-era labor code.
Despite this, many women have actually managed to find jobs in the military and continue to serve their country. Over 30,000 women hold various positions in the armed forces, according to the statistics provided by the Defense Ministry. At least, 14,500 are listed as combat personnel.
But right now, Juknevičienė argues, territorial defense is out most important for Ukraine.
“According to Russian understanding, the Russian Empire is impossible without Ukraine. Russia has had the same understanding of its territorial borders since 16th century,” Juknevičienė said. For Ukraine, conscript armed forces is the solution: “Every young guy has to serve in the army and get military education.”
Juknevičienė is also certain that Europe should help Ukraine to continue its path to democracy and not let the Kremlin destabilize the situation. “Putin perceives democracy as weakness. His goal is to make it even weaker.”
