Lithuania's parliament has taken the first decisive step toward erasing the constitutional ban on stationing weapons of mass destruction and foreign military bases on its territory, a move that would put the Baltic state fully inside NATO's nuclear deterrence architecture — and has already drawn angry threats from Moscow.
99 votes in favour: how the amendment advanced
The Seimas backed the proposal to remove Article 137 from the Constitution with 99 votes in favour, 13 against and five abstentions. The clause currently prohibits both the deployment of weapons of mass destruction on Lithuanian soil and the establishment of foreign military bases in the country.
Amending the Constitution is a deliberately high bar. The proposal must be approved twice more — with votes scheduled for October 6 and January 12, 2027 — and each vote requires the support of at least two-thirds of all lawmakers, or 94 of the 141 members of the Seimas.
The bill's author, Seimas Speaker Juozas Olekas, told lawmakers the initiative reflects how fundamentally Lithuania's security environment has changed since the Constitution was written. "When agreeing on common collective defence plans, and especially deterrence, Lithuania looks like a black sheep in the Alliance, as it is the only one with such a restriction," he said during committee hearings.
Why Vilnius wants in on the nuclear deterrent
The political case for the change is straightforward: deterrence. Laurynas Kasčiūnas, leader of the conservative Homeland Union–Lithuanian Christian Democrats and a former defence minister, told the Seimas that renouncing nuclear options means renouncing full deterrence. "Nuclear weapons are the foundation of deterrence. If you renounce them, you renounce full-fledged deterrence in your security strategy," he said.
Supporters also point to regional precedent. Finland — another NATO ally sharing a border with Russia — lifted its long-standing ban on importing, transiting and storing nuclear weapons earlier this year. The debate in Vilnius has additionally been fuelled by French President Emmanuel Macron's proposal for a European nuclear deterrence scheme, under which allies could temporarily host French strategic aircraft and provide airspace for them.
Foreign affairs committee chairman Remigijus Motuzas argued the amendment would be one of the strongest signals Vilnius could send, reducing the risk of military aggression against the republic. At the same time, Lithuanian leaders have stressed that there are no immediate plans to actually store nuclear weapons in the country — the aim is to remove a legal obstacle, not to issue an invitation.
Moscow threatens, Vilnius hardens
The Kremlin has reacted furiously. Russian state media report that Dmitry Peskov and Dmitry Medvedev have threatened retaliation if the amendment passes, with Peskov warning that Lithuania would "come into the sights" of Russia's nuclear arsenal and Medvedev threatening that "Lithuania will disappear from the world map" — threats Vilnius treats as confirmation that its deterrence argument is correct.
The Lithuanian government is not waiting for the constitutional process to conclude before hardening the country. Vilnius is fortifying electrical substations near the Russian border with anti-drone protection, and Lithuania's president has said US troops are on the way to the country, with NATO forces already stationed in Lithuania, with the US maintaining a reduced contingent. Lithuania, which borders Russia's Kaliningrad exclave, has been one of Ukraine's staunchest allies throughout the full-scale war, supplying extensive military equipment and financial support to Kyiv.
What comes next
The amendment still faces two more votes and must clear the 94-vote threshold each time, so its passage is not yet guaranteed. Opposition, led by Remigijus Žemaitaitis of the Dawn of Nemunas party, argues the article can only be changed by referendum and warns that Moscow and Minsk will exploit the debate for propaganda.
But with 99 votes already secured — comfortably above the required two-thirds — the political momentum is clearly with the amendment's supporters. If it passes, Lithuania would shed the last constitutional barrier to full participation in NATO's nuclear sharing arrangements, tightening the alliance's eastern flank at a moment when Russia's threats are doing more to unite it than to divide it.
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