Lithuania to increase military spending by a third in 2015

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Defence & Security News - Lithuania
 
 
Friday, October 3, 2014 10:27 AM
 
Lithuania to increase military spending by a third in 2015
Lithuania will increase its defense budget by a third next year amid concerns over a resurgent Russia, but spending will still fall short of NATO's recommended 2 percent of output, officials said Thursday, October 2. Military spending will account for 1.11 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2015, defense ministry spokeswoman Viktorija Cieminyte told AFP, totaling 424.5 million euros ($536 million) in 2015, up 32 percent from this year.
     
Lithuania will increase its defense budget by a third next year amid concerns over a resurgent Russia, but spending will still fall short of NATO's recommended 2 percent of output, officials said Thursday, October 2. Military spending will account for 1.11 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2015, defense ministry spokeswoman Viktorija Cieminyte told AFP, totaling 424.5 million euros ($536 million) in 2015, up 32 percent from this year.
Lithuanian military spending will reach $536 million in 2015, up 32 percent from 2014
     
Defense Minister Juozas Olekas on Thursday reaffirmed the Baltic state's commitment to meet NATO's military spending recommendations by 2020.

"We need more funds for additional security measures and to meet international commitments to NATO," he told AFP, adding that funding in 2015 will be spent on new anti-aircraft and anti-tank weaponry and to improve infrastructure for training with NATO allies among others.

Vilnius-based analyst Laurynas Kasciunas said the increase was driven by concern that Russia may "test" NATO's Article Five on collective self-defense in the Baltic states.

NATO will set up regional "command and control" centers in "four or five countries, namely Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland and Romania," Vilnius announced last month.