Chief of Defence of Lithuania

On Tuesday, 16 July, President Gitanas Nausėda appointed Brigadier General Raimundas Vaikšnoras as Lithuania’s new Chief of Defence.

On Thursday, the Seimas approved the appointment of Brigadier General Raimundas Vaikšnoras as Lithuania’s next chief of defence. He will assume new duties on 24 July.

Brigadier General Raimundas Vaikšnoras on Tuesday was introduced in parliament as the candidate to become Lithuania’s next chief of defence. He emphasised the importance of air defence and expressed support for universal conscription.

Chief of Defence of Lithuania General Valdemaras Rupšys stresses that Lithuania does not face a threat of war in the near future. Yet he admits that the possibility of an armed conflict exists, but Lithuania is ready to minimise the threat together with NATO allies.

Chief of Defence of Lithuania General Valdemaras Rupšys assures the public that there is no reason to doubt NATO’s security guarantees, all the more so as Russia will not have capabilities to attack the alliance in the near future. Minister of Foreign Affairs Gabrielius Landsbergis has meanwhile rai...

NATO must be ready for the Baltic states' air defence, says Philip Mark Breedlove, commander of the US European Command and Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR).

Lithuania will open talks with German manufacturers over to purchase Boxer infantry fighting vehicles (IFV) for the country's military, the State Defence Council (VGT) decided on Friday.

Five national and international military exercises are planned in Lithuania in November. Lieutenant General Jonas Vytautas Žukas, the Chief of Defence of Lithuania, says that these exercises, which involve thousands of soldiers and considerable military equipment, do not only show Lithuania‘s prepar...

The Baltic air policing mission was "a very good experience" for Italian pilots, Chief of Defence of Italy General Claudio Graziano said in Vilnius on Tuesday.

“The Establishment of a NATO headquarters in Lithuania and six other Allies testifies that NATO is taking all necessary steps to provide security to its member states and to be prepared to implement the tasks necessary to deter anyone attempting on the security and territorial integrity of any of th...

Lithuania says to have received the NATO supreme commander's pledge to seek that training in Eastern Europe takes place "without major intervals". However, no specific decisions on the so-called Baltic brigade have been made yet.

Chief of the General Staff of the Portuguese Armed Forces General Artur Neves Pina Monteiro is arriving in Lithuania on Monday for an official visit at the invitation of Chief of Defence of Lithuania Lieutenant General Jonas Vytautas Žukas.

Chief of Defence of Lithuania Lieutenant General Jonas Vytautas Žukas visited the Joint Staff of the Lithuanian Armed Forces on Thursday and pledged to strengthen the country's rapid response forces.

Lithuania's President Dalia Grybauskaitė conferred the rank of Lieutenant General on Chief of Defence Jonas Vytautas Žukas at the President's Office on Monday morning.

Supreme Allied Commander Europe and Commander of US European Command General Phillip Mark Breedlove is scheduled to come to Lithuania next week.

The headquarters of a new motorized infantry brigade will be situated in the Lithuanian western port of Klaipėda in 2016, Chief of Defence of Lithuania Major General Jonas Vytautas Žukas says. It will be a second brigade in the Lithuanian army.

The Lithuanian army will hold exercises to improve interoperability of Lithuanian institutions without the assistance of NATO allies, Chief of Defence of Lithuania Major General Jonas Vytautas Žukas said on Tuesday, presenting the upcoming national Exercise Lighting Strike 2015.

When attending the NATO Week opening event at the National University of Defence of Ukraine Minister of National Defence Juozas Olekas underlined that the Russian war in Ukraine had become an alarm signal for the whole of Europe and NATO, Lithuania's Ministry of National Defence reports.

On 31 March, soldiers of the Portuguese Armed Forces arrived in Lithuania for combined training as part of NATO reassurance measures in the Baltic region, Lithuania's Ministry of National Defence reports.

A bill on the restoration of military conscription will be brought before the Seimas of Lithuania, parliament, on Thursday. Both the ruling and the opposition political groups have pledged their support.