{"id":523766,"date":"2026-03-07T14:23:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T11:23:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reform.news\/?p=523766"},"modified":"2026-03-07T14:42:45","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T11:42:45","slug":"budrys-warns-of-threat-from-russia-and-belarus-and-calls-for-open-discussion-of-nuclear-deterrence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/budrys-warns-of-threat-from-russia-and-belarus-and-calls-for-open-discussion-of-nuclear-deterrence","title":{"rendered":"Budrys Warns Of Threat From Russia And Belarus And Calls For Open Discussion Of Nuclear Deterrence"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Lithuanian Foreign Minister K\u0119stutis Budrys<\/b> warned of the threat posed by Russia and Belarus and called for an open discussion of nuclear deterrence.<\/p>\n

\u201cI ask myself what my limits would be if I had to defend Lithuania. Honestly, I would recognize no limits, because that is exactly how we must defend ourselves,\u201d<\/i> the Lithuanian foreign minister said in an interview with the Polish news agency PAP<\/a>.<\/p>\n

According to Budrys, the nuclear issue should not be a taboo within NATO.<\/p>\n

\u201cNATO is also a nuclear alliance. We have a common nuclear and conventional policy, which means that nuclear means can be used when necessary to defend ourselves,\u201d<\/i> he said, positively assessing French President Emmanuel Macron<\/b>\u2019s initiative to extend nuclear deterrence to European allies.<\/p>\n

He added that France\u2019s proposal is a valuable contribution to a necessary discussion.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother thing that tells me we must talk about this is the fact that Russian tactical nuclear forces are deployed in the Kaliningrad region and now also in Belarus, which happened after the start of Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine,\u201d<\/i> he said.<\/p>\n

Budrys added that \u201ceveryone thinks we should remain silent and not talk about it.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cOf course we must. These nuclear capabilities must be discussed in the context of operational planning \u2014 what we will do and what will be required to stop Russian forces,\u201d<\/i> he said.<\/p>\n

In the Lithuanian foreign minister\u2019s assessment, NATO countries on the eastern flank will need additional capabilities to counter the threat from the East.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis should serve as a clear signal to Russia: if you come here, we will not defend ourselves exclusively on our own territory. We will kill you all. If the situation requires it, we will do so using the capabilities we have,\u201d<\/i> he said.<\/p>\n

Budrys also confirmed Lithuania\u2019s readiness to send troops to Ukraine as part of a coalition of willing countries in the event of a ceasefire. He also spoke about preparations for the deployment of a German brigade in Lithuania, which is expected to reach operational readiness in 2027.<\/p>\n

Preparing infrastructure for the German military will cost Lithuania about \u20ac3 billion. The brigade will consist of five battalions, including tanks and artillery. Germany plans to station about 4,800 soldiers and around 200 civilian personnel in Lithuania, including soldiers\u2019 families, due to the long rotation cycle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lithuanian Foreign Minister K\u0119stutis Budrys warned of the threat posed by Russia and Belarus and called for an open discussion of nuclear deterrence. \u201cI ask myself what my limits would be if I had to defend Lithuania. Honestly, I would recognize no limits, because that is exactly how we must defend ourselves,\u201d the Lithuanian foreign […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":496482,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sharing_image":{"poster":"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/69ac0f3a7e05f.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"template":"691142dd","mode":"auto"},"_sharing_image_fieldset":{"dTVKfmI95PYT":"Budrys Warns Of Threat From Russia And Belarus And Calls For Open Discussion Of Nuclear Deterrence"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[142339,142338,143090],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-523766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-main","category-news","category-politics"],"wps_subtitle":"","permalink_manager":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=523766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523766\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/496482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=523766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=523766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=523766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}