As Lithuania’s Seimas considered removing a constitutional restriction written in the aftermath of the Soviet army’s departure, Laurynas Kas offered the case for change in a single sentence: “Russians do not attack the strong.” The Homeland Union elder was speaking as lawmakers voted on 22 September 2026 to advance the removal of Article 137, which bars weapons of mass destruction and foreign military bases from Lithuanian soil.
The chamber voted 99–13, with five abstentions. It was the first parliamentary step towards striking the provision from the Constitution.
The Nemunas Dawn faction led the opposition, with nine of its members voting against the measure. Ignas, a legislator from the Mixed Group, questioned whether removing the clause would open Lithuanian territory to foreign military bases.
The proposal had cleared the Seimas Committee on Legal Affairs on 9 September, when the committee voted 7–2 to recommend that Article 137 be struck.
Article 137 was written in 1992, after the Soviet army left and before Lithuania joined NATO in 2004. Lithuania is the only regional state subject to this constitutional restriction; Latvia, Estonia, Poland and Finland have no comparable ban.
The change is still far from complete. Seimas Speaker Juozas Olekas confirmed that two further votes are scheduled for 6 October 2026 and 12 January 2027. Each requires support from at least 94 of the 141 members of the Seimas.
The process does not require a referendum. Article 137 falls within Chapter XIII of the Constitution, which covers foreign policy and national defence and permits amendment through two votes held at least three months apart with a two-thirds supermajority.
A Delfi fact check in July 2026 said claims that changing Article 137 legally requires a referendum were false.
Russian officials and media have already responded in forceful terms. On 11 September, Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said Lithuania would be “wiped from the map” if a nuclear deployment led to confrontation.
RIA Novosti also published an opinion article by its freelance contributor Alexander Nosovich that threatened Lithuania with a nuclear strike. The article claimed Russia faced another “special military operation” in Lithuania, and was later deleted by RIA Novosti.
The parliamentary vote removes no weapons restriction yet, and it settles neither whether Lithuania would seek nuclear deployment nor whether a revised constitution would enable foreign bases. For now, it has put those questions before two more votes in a country reconsidering a restraint that has stood since 1992.
Comments (0)