NATO draws up Baltic defence plans, presents them to member states

NATO has drawn up defence plans for the Baltic states and has recently presented them to representatives from all member states, the 15min.lt news website reported on Wednesday.

The plans are expected to be approved before the NATO summit in Vilnius in mid-July.

"This is the first time these plans will be so detailed. These will be operational level plans," Kęstutis Budrys, President Gitanas Nausėda's chief national security adviser, told 15min.lt.

"Thus, it will be possible to talk about specifically assigned forces that will carry out plans and tasks in our region, which has not been the case before," he said. "This is a qualitatively different level from the plans that were previously in place and have now been activated."

Previously, the approach was that the Baltic countries should try to hold off a Russian offensive until allied reinforcements can arrive to help them. Now NATO wants to be ready to fight back immediately, according to 15min.lt.

The alliance has taken steps to further bolster the security of its eastern flank in the wake of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

NATO in Lithuania (associative image) | J. Stacevičiaus / LRT nuotr.

'A significant step forward'

"The analysis of the presented defence plans is still ongoing," Lithuania's Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis told reporters, adding that they are a "significant step forward".

"If you ask what we expect and what we are looking for in these plans, we probably often talk about the phase before the war when we have to do everything possible to prevent war from starting. We call it deterrence," the minister said.

"That is why we often say that additional forces in the Baltic states are not only a defence factor but also a deterrent factor, so that there should be no need to trigger Article 5," he added.

Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said after meeting with Landsbergis in Vilnius that NATO must have "clear and working plans", adding that "we are doing better and better".

"We have to give a very clear message to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin that he won't win the war in Ukraine and he won't come to our territories, because we are ready," he told reporters.