With wary eye on Russia, Lithuania to reintroduce the draft
Lithuania plans to restore compulsory military service for young men amid mounting fears of Russian assertiveness in the Baltic region.
President Dalia Grybauskaite said Tuesday the measure was necessary because of "growing aggression" in eastern Ukraine, where Russian-backed rebels have claimed a huge swath of territory over the past 11 months.
"Today's geopolitical environment , and do it as fast as possible," Ms. Grybauskaite said after a meeting of her defense council, according to Reuters.
Russian President Vladimir Putin鈥檚 endgame for Ukraine remains anyone鈥檚 guess. While one possibility is ultimately a Russian-controlled region in the country鈥檚 east, the big concern for NATO is the prospect of Russia actively attempting to destabilize a member country like Lithuania.
Under NATO's Article 5, an attack on any member is considered an attack on all members.聽Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO鈥檚 previous secretary-general, said in January that there was a 鈥渉igh probability鈥� Mr. Putin would test the article, though 鈥渉e will be defeated鈥� if he does.聽
Experts warn that if the Kremlin wants to further prod the West, Lithuania and its Baltic neighbors 鈥� Latvia and Estonia 鈥� could be of particular interest. The three countries were occupied for five decades by the Soviet Union before regaining independence in 1991, and Latvia and Estonia have large Russian-speaking minorities.
鈥淭he Baltic states have, since regaining independence always considered Russia to be the to their independence,鈥� Martin Hurt, deputy director at Estonia鈥檚 International Centre for Defense and Security, told Newsweek. 鈥淭his is the logic result of our historic experience. Thus, our armed forces have had to assume that the most likely enemy they will have to face is Russia and its armed forces.鈥�
Snap Russian military exercises close to NATO鈥檚 northern and eastern borders have put the Baltic countries on heightened alert for most of the past year. So too has an uptick in the number of close encounters with Russian aircraft. As the Economist reports:
Last year NATO planes carried out of Russian aircraft. More than 150 were by the alliance鈥檚 beefed-up Baltic air-policing mission 鈥撀爁our times as many as in 2013. In the first nine months of the year, 68 鈥渉ot鈥� identifications and interdictions occurred along the Lithuanian border alone. Latvia recorded more than 150 incidents of Russian planes entering its airspace.
Lithuania鈥檚 proximity to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad makes it especially vulnerable. The BBC reports that there in December that featured 9,000 soldiers and more than 55 naval vessels.
Gen. Jonas Vytautas, Lithuania鈥檚 defense chief, said a to national security, The Associated Press reports.
Having abolished conscription in 2008, the country plans to reinstate it for five years starting in September. Each year the military will enlist up to 3,500 men, ages 19 to 26, who will serve for nine months. Lithuania's parliament still needs to approve the plan.
Lithuania currently has 15,000聽troops,聽down from the nearly 39,000 it had before joining NATO in 2004, AP reports.
Ukraine is the only other country to have in response to the growing threat posed by Russia. Most NATO members have phased out conscription in recent decades, including Latvia in 2006.
Latvia's defense minister has suggested increasing its Army numbers by 2,000 to 7,000 men, but there are no plans to introduce the draft. As for Estonia, it still requires young men to serve for eight or 11 months. It's also聽one of only five NATO members whose defense budget exceeds 2 percent of GDP, the target set by NATO member nations, according to Mr. Hurt.
