Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland called in a joint statement on the European Commission to terminate investment protection treaties with Russia that remain in force in 17 member states. According to Estonia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the treaties are being used to influence European Union (EU) policy in Russia’s favor and their continued application threatens the bloc’s overall economic security. The ministry said the treaties contain provisions that encourage investment in Russia and allow individuals under sanctions to bring claims before international courts against member states and against the EU as a whole. Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said the EU’s task was to ensure “that Russia’s international isolation is maintained without concessions.”
Theme: Lithuania
Articles and notes about Lithuania.
A suspected drone exploded over Lithuania on Sunday morning after triggering an alert that forced residents in northern and central areas to seek shelter for an hour, the president and other defense officials said, according to the South China Morning Post. Lithuania is treating an attempted arson attack at a SpaceX Starlink base station on Sunday as a Russia-linked act of sabotage aimed at undermining Ukraine’s military capacity, according to the Straits Times.
Lithuania’s Interior Ministry plans to deploy army units to reinforce security along the border with Russia’s Kaliningrad Region, according to Interior Minister Martynas Katelynas, in a Facebook post cited by TASS. Katelynas said he had asked Defense Minister Robertas Kaunas to deploy the armed forces to help border guards, and described the move as preventive, with the situation at the border calm. Lithuania’s public broadcaster LRT reports that the country will deploy troops to help guard the border with Kaliningrad.
Lithuania's parliament voted Tuesday, in a first reading, to advance a constitutional amendment that would remove the ban on weapons of mass destruction from the constitution, LRT reported. The vote passed with 106 lawmakers in favour, 18 against and six abstaining. A final vote cannot be held until at least three months later. TASS described the vote as a removal of the ban on nuclear weapons deployment.
Lithuanian Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevicius said there is no real proof that Russia is preparing an attack on North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) territory, according to RT, following a meeting with the alliance’s chief, Mark Rutte, in Brussels — Sinkevicius said he asked Rutte whether there was any real proof from intelligence services and that the answer was that there is none, also according to RT.
Lithuanian president Gitanas Nausėda said on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, that a new rotation of US troops is “already on its way” to the country, resolving part of the uncertainty over the military presence in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) ally bordering Russia, as reported by Reuters, Stars and Stripes and Mezha. Nausėda thanked Donald Trump and said the “US military presence in Lithuania is an indispensable part of our deterrence and collective defence”; Lithuanian foreign minister Kęstutis Budrys said “US boots on the ground are essential for deterrence, defence, and security on NATO’s eastern flank”. The United States has kept rotations in Lithuania since 2019, with battalions of about 1,000 troops. Stars and Stripes reported that the contingent is normally drawn from the Poland-based brigade, that the number and origin of the troops have not been disclosed and that the Pentagon had not publicly confirmed the deployment: in May 2026 defence secretary Pete Hegseth ordered a rebalancing of forces in Europe, withdrawing up to 5,000 troops from Germany and cancelling the move to Poland of the armoured brigade based at Fort Hood, Texas, which left the troops in Lithuania without a replacement.
Lithuania’s Parliament voted on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, to lift the ban on stationing nuclear weapons on the country’s territory, with 99 votes in favour, five abstentions and 13 against. The amendment to Article 137 of the Constitution still needs two votes three months apart, on 6 October and 12 January, each requiring at least 94 of the 141 lawmakers.
Lithuania’s prime minister, Mindaugas Sinkevičius, told BBC News that the country has evacuation plans in the face of Russian threats and that, if attacked, “we will fight back”. In an interview with the Newsnight programme, he said Lithuanians feel “constantly threatened”, partly because of drones entering the country’s airspace, and that the government is working on “a variety of scenarios”, not all of them discussed publicly, citing as an example moving elderly residents out of cities without traffic jams. Lithuania’s Interior Ministry approved a population evacuation plan on 14 July, and details released on 16 September set out three main routes out of the capital, one of them using Poland’s Podlaskie province as a transit corridor, according to Newsweek. The interview comes a week after North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) fighter jets shot down a drone that entered Lithuanian airspace from the direction of Belarus, according to BBC News. Lithuania shares a land border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.
Lithuania’s prime minister, Mindaugas Sinkevičius, told BBC News his country has drawn up evacuation plans for “a variety of scenarios” in the face of the Russian threat, while saying Lithuanians “will not surrender” if attacked: “we will fight back, we will engage”. In an interview with the Newsnight programme, also BBC News, he said Lithuanians feel “constantly threatened” by Russia, in part because of the drones entering the country’s airspace, and gave the example of getting elderly citizens out of cities “smoothly”. Lithuania borders the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad and is a NATO member that shot down a drone entering its airspace a week ago; Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas told BBC News the aircraft came from the direction of Belarus, a Russian ally, which did not comment on the incident.