Lithuania Moves to Lift Constitutional Nuclear Weapons Ban

President Gitanas Nausėda announced a plan to repeal Article 137 of the Lithuanian constitution, which prohibits the deployment of weapons of mass destruction and foreign military bases on national territory. Following an agreement among parliamentary leaders on July 2, 50 lawmakers submitted the formal amendment on July 3. Nausėda stated that the existing legal framework is obsolete because the geopolitical situation is worsening and the constitution was written under different circumstances.

The legal overhaul requires two separate approvals by at least 94 of the 141 members of parliament, with a three-month interval between votes. The amendment could be adopted by the end of 2026. While the repeal would allow Lithuania to join NATO nuclear sharing programs or a proposed European deterrence framework from France, Parliament Speaker Juozas Olekas clarified that Lithuania does not intend to host nuclear weapons during peacetime.

This policy shift follows a similar move by Finland, which ended its nuclear restrictions on July 2. The decision aligns with broader defense efforts, including tripling defense spending and preparing for a permanent German brigade deployment in 2027. Russia responded hostiley to these developments; Aleksey Zhuravlyov, first deputy chair of the Russian State Duma Defense Committee, claimed Finland is becoming a second Ukraine and warned that Moscow had the capability to destroy half that country.