Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda is convening a State Defence Council meeting on Thursday over the upcoming launch of Astravyets nuclear power plant near the border with Lithuania.
The Council will meet to assess Lithuania‘s preparedness to respond to any potential incident at the Belarusian nuclear facility, the president’s office said in a press release on Wednesday.
"Despite violations of international nuclear safety and environmental requirements, in violation of international conventions [and] without having implemented the recommended stress tests, Belarus plans to start operating the nuclear power plant in the near future," the office said.
Read more: Baltic states moving towards agreement on Belarusian electricity ban, president says
The council will also discuss the acceleration of the Baltic power grids' synchronisation with the European Continental system, according to the press release.
Under the Lithuanian Constitution, the State Defence Council discusses and coordinates key state defence issues. The council is chaired by the president and includes the prime minister, the speaker of the Seimas, the defence minister, and the chief of defence.
The foreign, interior, and energy ministers and the chairman of the parliament's Committee on National Security and Defence will also participate in Thursday's meeting.
The Lithuanian government says that the Astravyets NPP, located some 50 kilometres from the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, fails to meet international safety and environmental standards, which Minsk denies.
In 2017, the Seimas passed a law declaring the Belarusian nuclear facility a threat to national security, environment, and public health.
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