The Baltic foreign ministers have urged Germany to provide tanks to Ukraine, with Lithuania’s top diplomat claiming Berlin has a “special responsibility”. “We, the Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian Foreign Ministers, call on Germany to provide Leopard tanks to Ukraine now,” Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis tweeted on January 21. “This is needed to stop Russian…
While the world debates the development and use of dual-use technologies, services and products, Ukraine, which has been exposed to russian aggression, has not hesitated to use such technologies to protect its sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity. This new experience for the world can be useful in terms of how a responsible state governed by…
Minister of Defense Hanno Pevkur (Reform) and head of the Estonian Defense Forces (EDF) capacities development department Kaarel Maesalu said that the decision to give Estonia’s truck-towed howitzers to Ukraine did not harm the country defensive capacity. “Naturally, we made these decisions in cooperation with the Estonian Defense Forces and its commander. It follows our…
Lack of training and the defence plans of NATO hinder immediate deliveries of tanks to Ukraine, Lithuania’s Chief of Defence Valdemaras Rupsys has said. “There are always technical issues, I would name two main ones: you cannot give a very large number of tanks right away, because you have to train the troops first,” Rupsys…
At the end of 2022, the US Congress confirmed funding of $225 million towards their Baltic Security Initiative for the fiscal year of 2023, as confirmed by Latvia’s Ministry of Defence. All this funding will be diverted towards development of all three Baltic States’ military capabilities. In the fiscal year of 2022 the Baltic Security…
Lithuania will seek that NATO member countries agree at July’s summit in Vilnius to spend at least 2% of their GDP on defence, according to a presidential adviser. “One of Lithuania’s objectives is that the NATO summit agree on and confirm the so-called Vilnius commitment on defence investment of at least 2%,” Kestutis Budrys, the…
Lithuanian Defence Minister Arvydas Anusauskas visited France on December 29 for talks with his French counterpart, Sebastien Lecornu, on the acquisition of Caesar Mark II wheeled self-propelled howitzers. Anusauskas and Lecornu are also expected to discuss “bilateral cooperation, assistance to Ukraine, and other key security and defence issues”, the Lithuanian Defence Ministry said in a…