Lithuanian Defence Minister Dovile Šakalienė is visiting Finland on Thursday to learn more about the country’s military mobilisation, the ministry said in a press release.
"Šakalienė will familiarise herself with the reserve system of the Finnish Defense Forces: the majority of Finnish men aged between 18 and 60 are active service members or part of the reserve or the auxiliary reserve," the ministry said.
Each year, the Finnish military trains around 22,000 recruits, including around 1,000 women, it noted.
Meanwhile, the backbone of Lithuania’s military is its 12,000-strong professional armed forces, which are bolstered by the intake of around 4,000 conscripts each year for a nine-month service.
For the next 10 years, they become part of the 38,000-strong “active” reserve force. After that, they are moved to the “prepared” reserve force of around 80,000 people with military training. They are crossed off the lists after they turn 60.
These numbers are bolstered by a part-time territorial force, the National Defence Volunteer Forces, which unite over 5,400 people. The territorial forces are further bolstered by the recently established Commendants' Offices, as well as several thousand members of the Riflemen's Union, a government-controlled paramilitary organisation.
Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Lithuania has been eyeing options to bolster its military, including by moving toward a universal conscription model.
In Helsinki, Šakalienė is set to meet with her Finnish counterpart Antti Hakkanen and the chairman of the parliamentary defence committee, Jukka Kopra.
Earlier this week, she said that talks with Finnish weapons manufacturers would also cover potential mine purchases.
Her remarks followed Tuesday's announcement by the Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian and Polish defence ministers of their intention to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention, which bans anti-personnel mines.
The move has yet to be approved by the parliaments of the respective countries.
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