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Lithuania Lawmakers approve plan to remove a ban on hosting nuclear weapons · THE DAILY BRIEF

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  Speaker 1: Now to Lithuania, where the Parliament has given overwhelming support
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  Speaker 1: to a plan to remove a ban on hosting nuclear
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  Speaker 1: weapons on its territory. The vote to take the first
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  Speaker 1: step to amend the Constitution came despite a series of
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  Speaker 1: threats from Russia. The Kremlin has said it will aim
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  Speaker 1: its nuclear weapons at Lithuania if it allows warheads on
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  Speaker 1: its territory. The Baltic nation borders Russia's Kaliningrad exclave and
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  Speaker 1: Russian ally Belarus. both of which are believed to be
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  Speaker 1: hosting nuclear weapons. Now, this vote comes a day after
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  Speaker 1: US President Donald Trump said he was open to having
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  Speaker 1: a permanent US military base in Lithuania. Speaking exclusively to DW,
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  Speaker 1: the Lithuanian prime minister welcomed that idea.
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  Speaker 2: We're lobbying for permanent deployment of United States troops. I
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  Speaker 2: think that the more troops of international origin we have,
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  Speaker 2: the safer we feel. It's not for the sake of
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  Speaker 2: attacking something. I think it's for the sake of deterrence,
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  Speaker 2: for the sake of our security, for the sake of
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  Speaker 2: military training in terms of NATO and cooperation against different
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  Speaker 2: combat forces. And it's a useful thing, but we're not talking, well,
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  Speaker 2: thinking of permanent deployment of the United States military We're
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  Speaker 2: not thinking about nuclear weapons.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Russia responded to this vote by warning that a
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  Speaker 1: larger U.S. presence in Lithuania would only escalate tensions.
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  Speaker 3: If military infrastructure belonging to a key NATO country moves
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  Speaker 3: closer to our borders, then naturally this can only be
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  Speaker 3: perceived as a step toward escalating tensions, just as the
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  Speaker 3: deployment of nuclear weapons on the territory of a neighboring state.
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  Speaker 1: Let's go straight to the Lithuanian capital, where we find
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  Speaker 1: DW's Russia analyst, Konstantin Egert. Welcome back, Konstantin. Where has
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  Speaker 1: this push to allow nuclear weapons on Lithuanian territory come from?
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  Speaker 4: Well, it comes from the Lithuanian assessment of its security,
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  Speaker 4: I feel. The situation where you have actually... two different
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  Speaker 4: borders with Russia. One is with Russia's ally Belarus, another
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  Speaker 4: one with Russia proper in Kaliningrad region, calls for a
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  Speaker 4: kind of enhanced attitude to security.
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  Speaker 5: And in this respect, the scrapping of the.
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  Speaker 4: Article 137 of the Lithuanian Constitution, which prohibited the deployment
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  Speaker 4: of nuclear weapons.
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  Speaker 5: Is essentially....
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  Speaker 4: If you wish, a warning shot to Moscow saying that
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  Speaker 4: Lithuania is prepared to be even more integrated into the
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  Speaker 4: NATO collective defence structure than it was before.
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  Speaker 5: In this respect, it's pretty natural. Right.
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  Speaker 1: And where did that exclusion in the constitution come from?
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  Speaker 1: Because that's an oddity in itself. Why does Lithuania have
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  Speaker 1: a clause in its constitution excluding nuclear weapons?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, you're quite right, Phil. It's quite a rare thing,
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  Speaker 4: but it stemmed from the Lithuanians' desire to have the
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  Speaker 4: Russian armed forces out of Lithuania, or rather the Soviet
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  Speaker 4: armed forces, as soon as possible, out of Lithuania when
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  Speaker 4: the breakup of the Soviet Union happened. Lithuania wanted to
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  Speaker 4: forestall any possibility of Russia negotiating exclusive rights for hosting.
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  Speaker 5: Any kind of weaponry on Lithuanian soil.
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  Speaker 4: And I think that this, at that time, sounded pretty
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  Speaker 4: natural and looked pretty natural because no one thought that
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  Speaker 4: the situation was going to change and we're going to
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  Speaker 4: come to a massive war in Europe, the first one
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  Speaker 4: of this kind since 1945.
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  Speaker 1: I want to come to the point that you hinted
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  Speaker 1: at in your first answer, that just looking at a
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  Speaker 1: map and borders is really instructive. So we'll take a
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  Speaker 1: look at a map now, and we see the three
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  Speaker 1: Baltic countries, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. They're in a geographically
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  Speaker 1: difficult location when it comes to dealing with Russia and
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  Speaker 1: its client state, Belarus. But it's Lithuania that seems to
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  Speaker 1: be facing the biggest challenge. Tell us about the Svoboda Gap,
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  Speaker 1: if I've pronounced that right.
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  Speaker 5: Yes, it is.
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  Speaker 4: A 100, 110 kilometer stretch of land, which is the
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  Speaker 4: border between Lithuania and Poland. In case Russia cuts it,
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  Speaker 4: in case the Russian forces manage to basically control it,
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  Speaker 4: the three Baltic states will be cut off from the
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  Speaker 4: European NATO allies and will be left to their own devices.
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  Speaker 4: And in this respect, cooperation between Lithuania and Poland, the
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  Speaker 4: ability to maintain this link is strategically vital for the
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  Speaker 4: survival of Lithuania.
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  Speaker 5: And Latvia and Estonia too.
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  Speaker 4: So the decision, or rather the vote, the first vote
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  Speaker 4: out of two, of the Seimas, the Lithuanian parliament, to
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  Speaker 4: allow for the deployment of nuclear weapons, it is a
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  Speaker 4: very strong political signal saying we are not going to surrender.
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  Speaker 4: We are going to maintain our sovereignty, whatever it takes.
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  Speaker 4: And in this respect, your reminder about the Suwalki corridor
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  Speaker 4: is extremely important because this is one thing that in
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  Speaker 4: case of a major land war in this area, this
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  Speaker 4: is going to be a key region.
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  Speaker 1: These are confusing times because we've heard Donald Trump talk
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  Speaker 1: previously about withdrawing troops from the Baltics. Now he says
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  Speaker 1: he's open to the idea of a permanent US base
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  Speaker 1: in Lithuania. So has the threat assessment changed or has
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  Speaker 1: this American president just changed his mind again?
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  Speaker 4: Bill, if you or I could live in the head
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  Speaker 4: of Donald Trump, we would have made a ton of
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  Speaker 4: money on the blue-chip markets. But we don't, so we
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  Speaker 4: have to make our salaries. Frankly speaking, I don't know.
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  Speaker 4: He may change his attitude tomorrow. But definitely what is
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  Speaker 4: very clear to me is that in Lithuania, an ability
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  Speaker 4: to maintain manageable and real security relationship with the United States.
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  Speaker 5: Is of paramount importance.
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  Speaker 4: And in this respect, Anything that Donald Trump says about
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  Speaker 4: a possible American base in Lithuania will be greeted with
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  Speaker 4: applause here in Vilnius and everything, the red carpet will
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  Speaker 4: be rolled out for American troops if really a decision
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  Speaker 4: is taken to do that.
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  Speaker 1: Good talking to you, Konstantin.
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  Speaker 5: Thank you for that.
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  Speaker 1: DW Russia analyst Konstantin Egert in Vilnius.