Lithuania Votes to Lift Its Nuclear Ban. Moscow Had Already Named the Price.

Lithuania’s parliament passed the first reading of a constitutional amendment on Tuesday 6 October that removes the ban on weapons of mass destruction and foreign bases from the constitution. The vote was 106 to 18, with six abstentions, LRT reported. The final vote is set for 12 January 2027, the speaker said. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov answered at his briefing the same day, Anadolu reported.

Peskov and Dmitry Medvedev had already spoken on 11 September, and Vladimir Putin warned about Kaliningrad on 1 October.

LRT reported that the vote announces no deployment. Peskov called even the possibility an escalation. Medvedev said Lithuania “will disappear from the world map.” Putin warned that “all types of weapons” would be on the agenda if Russia were attacked. The second reading on 12 January 2027 is the next test.

The vote. Speaker Juozas Olekas said the change would “strengthen Lithuania’s resilience and deterrence capabilities,” according to LRT. Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas described Lithuania as “surrounded by countries with strategic weapons,” including Russia’s Kaliningrad region. Opposition conservative Laurynas Kasčiūnas said “nuclear deterrence is the queen of deterrence as a whole.”

LRT reported that Article 137 now bans both weapons of mass destruction and foreign military bases, that the amendment needs 94 of 141 votes at the second reading, and that the vote does not authorise a deployment.

Peskov, 6 October. Peskov said that neither a base nor nuclear weapons in Lithuania would contribute to stability. “On the contrary, and to our regret, they will mark yet another significant escalation of tensions,” he told reporters, in remarks carried by Anadolu. Russia would be compelled to take “all necessary measures to guarantee its own security,” he added.

Peskov, 11 September. Meduza reported that Peskov said such weapons “will be aimed eastward, at us.” He went on: “If there is nuclear weaponry on that territory aimed at us, then that country’s territory will also be in the crosshairs of our nuclear weapons.” He called the scenario “a very serious round of escalation and tension.” The harder language came earlier than the vote.

Medvedev, 11 September. The deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council spoke the same day on a visit to the Northwestern Federal District and posted the remarks on his Max channel, United24 reported. “If it is implemented, it will be a global catastrophe, a planetary one. They are not fools. But Lithuania will disappear from the world map.” He added that “no one will step in for them.”

Putin, 1 October. Speaking at the Valdai Discussion Club in Moscow about Kaliningrad, the Russian exclave between Lithuania and Poland, Putin said: “If it comes to a direct attack on the Russian Federation... then, of course, the question of the Russian Federation deploying all types of weapons at our country’s disposal will inevitably and immediately be on the agenda,” he said, according to Euronews. He also said Russia had “no intention of attacking anyone, neither in 2029, nor in 2030, nor in 2050.” NATO rejected what it called “irresponsible nuclear rhetoric,” Euronews reported.

Speaker Olekas said the second reading is scheduled for 12 January 2027, and LRT reported it needs 94 votes against the 106 the first reading drew. The reports used here record no deployment plan, and one would change the case. Peskov’s 6 October wording is the other marker: whether it holds after the final vote, or Medvedev’s September language returns. Silent Dossier’s 5 October report on Peskov’s warning to diplomats in Kyiv covers the other Russian signal this week.