defence spending

Lithuania's Defence Ministry intends continue raising the number of professional troops next year and form two new battalions in western part of the country.

Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, commander of the United States Army Europe, has applauded Lithuania's plans of earmarking 2 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) to defence next year, emphasizing that the way of spending the money was even more important.

The proposal made by the Lithuanian State Defence Council to earmark 2 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) to defence next year is a political decision of principle, says Parliamentary Speaker Viktoras Pranckietis.

The Lithuanian State Defence Council is meeting at the President's Office on Tuesday to discuss financing of the defense sector for 20

Lithuania's President Dalia Grybauskaitė says she updated US Vice-President Mike Pence on the expectations in connection to addition US military instruments to ensure air defence of the Baltic states.

By raising its defence spending, Lithuania is an example to NATO Allies, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday.

US President Donald Trump has congratulated Lithuania on the upcoming independence anniversary, thanking for its support to Ukraine and commending for the growing defence spending.

Lithuania should not tie itself to specific financing figures as its defence spending will depend on geopolitical challenges and available financial resources, President Dalia Grybauskaitė said on Wednesday.

Lithuania needs a bigger defence budget to ensure cyber security and prepare for universal military conscription, says Vytautas Bakas, chairman of the parliament's Committee on National Security and Defence, which has recently called on political parties to commit to increasing defence spending to 2...

Lithuanian Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis supports lawmakers' proposal to update a defense policy agreement among political parties to include a commitment to gradually increase defence spending to 2.5 percent of GDP in 2020.

The Lithuanian parliament's National Security and Defence Committee has decided to initiate update of the agreement reached among political parties on defence spending.

Lithuania's updated National Security Strategy will highlight corruption and social exclusion as threats, the chairman of the parliament's Committee on National Security and Defence said on January 9.

The Lithuanian Peasant and Green Union (LPGU) is considering revising an agreement on the country's foreign, security and defense policy guidelines that was signed by parliamentary parties almost three years ago, the daily Lietuvos Žinios reported on Thursday.

Processes proceeding far from Lithuania and right by its borders lead to the conclusion that challenges to national security have not disappeared. Today it is hard to predict how things will proceed thus national defence is one of the priorities of national security policy.

Lithuania's commitment to earmark 2 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) to defence in 2018 is an important signal, Republican Senator John McCain of the United States has said in Vilnius.

President Dalia Grybauskaitė signed under the 2017 state budget project which already passed in Seimas.

Raimundas Karoblis’ name has so far not been well known in Lithuania. A career diplomat with over 20 years of experience, he himself was surprised by the proposal to become Minister of National Defence. He is inheriting a ministry with both an impressively rising budget and at the same time – the ta...