Lithuania intends to lift its ban on the deployment of nuclear weapons, the country’s president has said, as more NATO countries seek to host US nuclear bombs amid soaring tensions with Russia over the war in Ukraine.
“We would like to be the integral part of this nuclear deterrence,” said Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, according to AFP. “A few days ago, I initiated a constitutional amendment to remove the existing restriction on the possible deployment of nuclear weapons in Lithuania.”
The amendment needs to be approved by Lithuania’s parliament, which Nauseda expects, as he said there is “practically unanimous” support among lawmakers for repealing the ban outlined in Article 137 of Lithuania’s Constitution.
“Almost all parliamentary faction leaders expressed the view that Article 137 has become obsolete and should not merely be amended but removed,” Nauseda said.
The announcement came a few weeks after Finland, NATO’s newest member, repealed its ban on hosting nuclear weapons. Finland’s move and Lithuania’s potential repeal will open the countries up to potentially hosting US nuclear weapons as part of NATO’s nuclear sharing program, under which the US has nukes deployed in Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Turkey.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry has said Finland’s move requires a response, and former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, known for his hawkish rhetoric, said Finland, which shares a more than 800-mile border with Russia, is now on Russia’s “nuclear target list.”
Lithuania shares a border with Russia’s exclave of Kaliningrad and Belarus, where Russia deployed nuclear weapons in 2023. When announcing his decision to place nukes in Belarus, Russian President Vladimir Putin referenced NATO’s nuclear sharing program.
