The Minister of Defense of Lithuania, Dovile Sakaliene, has left open the possibility to seek changes in the Constitution to be able to house nuclear weapons and foreign bases in the country, at a time when allies as France are proposing to deploy this type of arsenal in NATO territories.
“If the allies propose realistic plans to display nuclear weapons, or their teams, the possibilities of modifying the Constitution must be evaluated,” said the minister at a press conference, in which she has urged to be prepared for any war scenario, according to LRT.
“Our main objective is to be prepared,” said Sakaliene, which has also established as one of the “greatest challenges” for these next years “the transatlantic unit”, at a time when the Trump administration is reproaching several partners of the alliance not being doing enough.
Together with Lithuania, the governments of Poland, Estonia and Latvia have also coordinated their joint departure from the Convention on the Prohibition of Antipersone Mines, to the Albor of an “Unstable Situation” in the field of security and with the aim of having the maximum “flexibility” and “freedom” when saying the weapons to be used in case of threat.
“With this decision, we are sending a clear message: our countries are prepared and can use any necessary measure to defend their territory and their freedom,” the defense ministers of the four countries have signed, which in recent weeks had resigned to continue within the known as Ottawa Treaty.
These four governments, which place other allied countries to “respect” the decision and to understand the special particularity of the Eastern European flank for its proximity to Russia, argue in a joint statement that this withdrawal does not imply that they cease to be “committed” to international law and respect for the population in case of armed conflict.
“The military threats to the border NATO member countries with Russia and Belarus have increased significantly,” they have indicated, referring to the Russian military invasion of Ukraine and the constant threats poured from Moscow on “the euroatlántic community” as a whole.
The note signed by the defense ministers implies a formal recommendation to which different formal steps must follow. The states part of the Ottawa Treaty have the right to leave this agreement, although the rupture of the Convention will only take effect six months after they formalize its request, as established by the text in its article 20.
