“Difficult times require bold decisions [and] leadership. We call on our allies to follow this lead,” says Baltic nation’s Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys.
Lithuania « commits to allocating » between 5 percent and 6 percent of GDP on defense from next year to 2030, Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys said today in a post on X.
Donald Trump, who returns for a second term as U.S. president on Monday, has called on NATO allies to raise their defense spending to at least 5 percent of GDP, a significant jump from the alliance’s current 2 percent target.
Poland has promised to hit 4.7 percent of GDP this year — the highest in NATO — but today’s decision by Lithuania’s State Defense Council makes it the first country to promise to meet Trump’s challenge.
Lithuania, which borders Kremlin ally Belarus and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, has long warned of Russian aggression along NATO’s eastern flank. It has steadily ramped up its defense spending in recent years in response to the threat posed by Russia.
« Difficult times require bold decisions [and] leadership, » said Budrys. « We call on our allies to follow this lead. The era of passive ‘sit-and-wait’ strategies is over. »
