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Roundup: Lithuanian gov't approves law on compulsory military service

Xinhua, March 5, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Lithuanian government approved a law reintroducing military conscription in the country on Wednesday.

The government also proposed to the Seimas, the Lithuanian Parliament, to approve the bill in an urgent procedure during the spring session.

According to the law, conscription will be introduced for a period of five years, with around 3,000 to 3,500 soldiers every year to be drafted for the nine-month service.

If Seimas approves the bill, the first 3,500 conscripts will be drafted by fall. Persons between 19 and 26 years of age and graduates of universities until the age of 38 may be conscripted to the service.

"After the geopolitical situation in the region has changed, we have to additionally strengthen our defense capabilities as well. That's why the decision to reintroduce military conscription was made," the Prime Minister of Lithuania Algirdas Butkevicius said.

Juozas Olekas, the Minister of National Defense, insists the priority when drafting to the military conscription will be placed on volunteers, with others being drafted on a mandatory basis in case the number of voluntary soldiers is not sufficient.

"According to our estimations, the main group interested in joining the voluntary military service will be young school graduates who do not yet have a clear view of their future plans, studies and profession but want to live independently," said Major General Jonas Vytautas Zukas, the chief of defense of Lithuania, in a press release.

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite said Lithuania must take care of its defense primarily, before asking for help from NATO allies.

"How can we can Danish or German citizens, for example, to come and defend Lithuania in case of threat if we by ourselves don't want to do this? This is our constitutional duty," Grybauskaite said to journalists on Wednesday during her visit to the historical Presidential Palace in Kaunas, the second largest Lithuanian city.

The president added that following the principle of priority for volunteers, women will be drafted to the service as well.

The government's proposal to reintroduce military conscription comes just 10 days after Lithuania's State Defense Council decided the country needs changes in the manning of its army.

The conscription in Lithuania was abolished in 2008. Endit