Lithuania’s Balancing Act
Volume 3, Issue 2 (2017), pp. 43–54
Pub. online: 21 December 2017
Type: Research Article
Open Access
Received
7 December 2017
7 December 2017
Accepted
10 December 2017
10 December 2017
Published
21 December 2017
21 December 2017
Abstract
Since regaining independence in 1990 and creating its regular armed forces, Lithuania has had to
do a balancing act. It has had to balance between different approaches of state defence, military structure, collective and national defence. Due to events in Ukraine Lithuania had to reconfigure this balance. The Russian threat forced to emphasize strategy of territorial defence, which altogether required tying up forces and enlarging its numbers by bringing back conscription, substantially increased defence budget, followed by higher tempo and scale in procurement and training. However, Lithuania has managed to maintain its activity and participation in international military operations and political initiatives. Its recent contributions have led to an assumption that its participation in various military missions in the future will not diminish, quite the opposite. Increasing the framework of cooperation in terms of defence and security initiatives will involve Lithuania more deeply and will require further contributions.