Lithuania’s State Defense Council (SDC) on Monday approved the State Defense Plan, Kestutis Budrys, President Gitanas Nauseda’s chief national security advisor, said.
“The main and the big issue of today’s meeting was the approval of the State Defense Plan, which means that Lithuania has a public, simple and accessible document that tells how the state sees itself in wartime and the involvement of every citizen,” he said at a press conference after the meeting of the SDC.
He added that the plan foresees the place of every citizen in the country’s defense, “so that there is not a single citizen, company or organization that does not know what to do”.
According to the presidential office, the State Defense Plan has been worked out to ensure that the different elements of the global defense function as a coherent whole. It covers armed defense, mobilization and civil resistance.
The objective of the plan is to defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Lithuania against armed attack through the concerted efforts and resources of the Armed Forces and NATO, state and municipal authorities, economic operators, citizens, and their organizations.
The plan was prepared by a group of experts from the presidential office, led by President Nauseda.
The SDC also discussed the state of the State Mobilization System and the mandate for international operations and deployments in 2024-2025.
The military mandate in force since the beginning of 2023 provides for the deployment of several hundred Lithuanian military and civilian personnel to 14 missions.
According to the Defense Ministry, 60 troops are currently serving in missions, half of them in the NATO-led international operation in Iraq.
Discussions on next year’s missions took place in the context of Lithuania’s declining involvement in these operations and the withdrawal of some countries from hot spots.
Source: BNS
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