Fearing Russian aggression, Lithuania moves to reinstate the draft

Officials in Lithuania are dusting off the country’s compulsory military service. President Dalia Grybauskaitė said the plan to reinstate the draft is motivated by changes in the region’s geopolitical situation, hinting at growing concerns about Russian aggression. If the parliament supports the resumption of military conscription, the first draft call would take place as soon as September 2015.

Men between the ages of 19 and 26 would be subject to compulsory military service for a period of nine months. The new plan would call up 3,000-3,500 soldiers every year.

Our armed forces’ current state is far from ideal, and returning the draft would be an effective way to improve Lithuania’s readiness to repel any possible aggression. Also, according to our calculations, training and maintaining conscripts would be half as expensive as preparing contracted professional soldiers.

Delfi (Lithuania)

• Lithuania abolished compulsory military service in 2008.
• In an interview in November 2014, President Grybauskaitė called Russia a “terrorist state,” saying Russian aggression could spread across Europe, if it’s not stopped in Ukraine. Responding to Grybauskaitė, the Russian Foreign Ministry said her remark “surpassed even the most extremist statements heard from the mouths of nationalist radicals in Kiev.”
• For the past several months, NATO countries have complained about Russian incursions into European airspace. In December 2014, Poland’s defense minister said Russian military activity around the Baltic region had reached “unprecedented” levels.