Lithuania must prepare for total defence at all levels, from NATO to every citizen, President Gitanas Nausėda said after a meeting with representatives of political parties on March 23.
“The principle of total defence must be enshrined not only in the National Total Defence Plan but also in peacetime preparations for mobilisation tasks and the organisation of civil resistance,” the president said in a press release.
“We have to prepare for total defence at all levels, from NATO to every citizen,” he added.
Earlier that day, Nausėda met with representatives of parliamentary political parties to discuss the strategic guidelines for Lithuania’s foreign, security and defence policies. He said after the meeting that there were no objections to raising Lithuania’s defence spending to 3 percent of GDP, adding that the target could be set in a new agreement among parliamentary parties.
The president also noted that civil protection and defence should be singled out as a separate area of national defence preparedness.
“We are not a bridge between East and West. Lithuania is a part of Western civilization, and what is more, its eastern outpost. Accordingly, we perceive the threats and choose our allies,” he said. Seimas has set up two task groups to draft political parties’ agreements on these issues.
Earlier agreements need to be updated in light of China’s pressure on Lithuania over the opening of the Taiwanese Representative Office in Vilnius, and Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine. LRT.lt
