Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev has claimed that Russia would wipe Lithuania "off the map" if nuclear weapons were deployed on its territory and that its NATO allies would not dare invoke Article 5 on collective defense.
Russia has threatened Lithuania with nuclear weapons as the Baltic nation is eyeing a lift of its nuclear weapons ban.
Lithuania’s parliamentary parties provisionally agreed to the constitutional amendments in July, and the parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs voted 7-2 on the proposal on Wednesday, Sept. 9, paving the way for a final decision in early 2027.
The lifting of the ban would allow NATO, of which Lithuania has been a member of since 2004, to deploy nuclear forces in Lithuania.
Canada’s and the United Kingdom’s engagement in the Baltics is also extensive: Canada is the battlegroup framework nation in Latvia, the UK in Estonia. Canada plans to deploy two battalions of a brigade to Latvia by 2025. The United Kingdom will, in addition to its participation to the eFP Battlegroup in Estonia, earmark a brigade for rapid deployment to the Baltic region.
