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Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said on Thursday there was “virtually unanimous” support among party leaders for ending the country’s ban on nuclear weapons. He said Article 137, which he said was now outdated, should be repealed.
“The opinions were practically unanimous. Almost all leaders of parliamentary factions expressed the view that Article 137 has become obsolete and should not just be amended, but abolished ,” Nauseda told reporters, referring to the article of Lithuania’s constitution that bans nuclear weapons and foreign military bases.
Speaking after meeting with parliamentary faction leaders, Nauseda indicated that the legislature would soon seek to amend the legislation. Vilnius, a staunch ally of Ukraine, has previously expressed interest in hosting US nuclear weapons as it seeks deterrents against neighboring Russia.
Lithuania joined NATO in 2004, and Nauseda said the country's parliamentary leaders did not want to be in a "gray zone" within the military alliance as one of the only countries that continues to ban nuclear weapons. Finland repealed a similar ban last June.
" Today, 35 years later, the situation is different. As NATO members, we have the right, the duty and the desire to be full and equal members of NATO. The main means of deterrence is nuclear deterrence," said Juozas Olekas, the speaker of the Lithuanian parliament.
The Financial Times previously reported that the US had discussed deploying nuclear warheads in countries on NATO's eastern flank. US nuclear weapons are currently stored at military bases in the UK, Germany, Italy, Turkey, Belgium and the Netherlands.
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