Lithuania: 5,500 volunteers register for national defence

Altogether 5,500 people in Lithuania have registered at command posts or special command offices as national defence volunteers, RBC-Ukraine reports, citing Polskie Radio. The registration process ended on 31 August 2024. Over 2,500 of the registered volunteers come from the Vilnius region. The volunteers will undergo selection and then begin specialised training in October 2024….

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Baltic: NATO to manage air-defence rotation: Lithuanian president

NATO allies agree that the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) should manage the rotation of air-defence systems in the Baltic region, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda stated, BNS reports. He said that political leaders of individual countries need not travel to different capitals and request anti-air defence systems. The NATO summit in Vilnius agreed in 2023…

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Lithuania: Vilnius mayor presents comprehensive city defence plan

Authorities in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, have unveiled a comprehensive city defence plan, BNS reports. The city plans to procure defensive anti-mobility installations, create a public drone training track, increase bomb shelter capacity to cover the entire population, update evacuation plans, and deploy additional warning systems and emergency communication tools. Vilnius mayor Valdas Benkunskas emphasised…

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Lithuania: Lithuanian, Polish PMs slam Hungarian, Slovakian meetings with Russia’s Lavrov

Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte criticised the Hungarian and Slovakian foreign ministers for meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at a forum in Antalya in Türkiye, BNS reported. Simonyte said that the meetings that Hungary’s Peter Szijjarto and Slovakia’s Juraj Blanar had with Lavrov were “a regrettable choice.” Meanwhile, speaking at a press conference…

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Lithuania: Poland’s solidarity with Lithuania “unquestionable”: PM Tusk

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk assured that Poland’s solidarity with Lithuania in case of an attack was “unquestionable,” BNS reported. Earlier, Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte raised concerns about Polish commitment to defending Lithuania, despite NATO obligations. Simonyte explained that she was referring to “legal restrictions” on Poland sending troops abroad in case of war….

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Baltic: Russia declares Estonian PM, Baltic officials “wanted”

Russia has issued arrest warrants against Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, Deutsche Welle reports. This is the first time that Russia has opened a criminal case against an acting foreign head of government. The Russian Interior Ministry’s full database of wanted people, which was leaked to independent Russian media outlet Mediazona, indicated that Kallas and…

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