Conscripts
Society

Catholics angered by Constitutional Court ruling on dismissal from conscription

Clergymen of the Roman Catholic Church of Lithuania have expressed indignation of the Tuesday’s ruling by the Constitutional Court, which said that the clergy of traditional religious communities had been dismissed from military or alternative defense service without due grounds. […]

Minister of Defence Raimundas Karoblis at the DELFI TV conference
Defence

Minister of Defence on his plans for national defence infrastructure

Raimundas Karoblis’ name has so far not been well known in Lithuania. A career diplomat with over 20 years of experience, he himself was surprised by the proposal to become Minister of National Defence. He is inheriting a ministry with both an impressively rising budget and at the same time – the taint of corruption, but the former diplomat tells Delfi TV that in the end he decided to operate on the idea of “If need be, then so be it”. […]

Saulius Skvernelis
Defence

Lithuania to continue commitments to NATO, be more active in EU – new PM

Lithuania’s Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis on Thursday briefed ambassadors of European Union (EU) member-states residing in Vilnius on the foreign policy course of the new 17 th government, accentuating that consistency, activeness and continuity would be key in the area. […]

Russian Baltic fleet on exercises in Kaliningrad
Defence

NATO Forces in Baltic States: numerous but disjointed

As the Baltic States continue to confront Russian air and naval power in the Baltic Sea, two small missile ships, the Zelenyy Dol and the Serpukhov entered this crowded body of water at the end of October. These Russian vessels will reportedly become part of a newly formed Baltic division in the near future (TVNET, October 26). The redeployment of the Zelenyy Dol and Serpukhov is just the latest regional development negatively affecting the security of the Baltic States. None of these three post-Soviet republics has the financial resources available to sufficiently strengthen its own naval capabilities in response. Therefore, in order to defend their sovereignty and ensure the sustainability of their defence sectors, the Baltic States’ naval policies will continue to stress the ability to “fill the gaps” in the full spectrum of Allied maritime operations in the region, Olevs Nikers writes in the Jamestown Foundation. […]

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Warsaw
CORPORATE

Warsaw decisions: Is one battalion enough?

The NATO summit in Warsaw has been lauded as historical, a breaking point that gave the Baltic states and Poland a reason to celebrate and stop fearing potential aggression from Russia. […]

No Picture

8 naval mines and three shipwrecks discovered during Baltic Sea operation

About 40 square nautical miles (about 137 square kilometres) of the Baltic seabed has been explored during international operation Open Spirit 2016. The mine search operation has so far discovered eight naval mines and one […]