Lithuania's political leaders have agreed that the country should scrap a constitutional clause barring nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction from its territory — a significant shift for a NATO state on Russia's doorstep, though one that remains, for now, a proposal rather than a done deal.
What was agreed
After a meeting of parliamentary and government leaders, President Gitanas Nausėda said there was near-unanimous support for removing the provision. Faction leaders took the view that the clause "has become obsolete and should not merely be amended but removed," he said, according to LRT, Lithuania's public broadcaster.
The clause in question — Article 137 of the constitution — states that weapons of mass destruction and foreign military bases may not be stationed on Lithuanian soil. Striking it would remove the domestic legal obstacle to hosting allied nuclear weapons.
Crucially, this is agreement in principle, not a change in the law. The ban remains in force, and lifting it would require a formal constitutional amendment that has not yet been passed.
A high bar in parliament
Amending Lithuania's constitution is deliberately difficult. Such a change must be approved by at least 94 of the 141 members of the Seimas, the parliament, in two separate votes held at least three months apart, LRT reported. That two-thirds threshold means broad cross-party support would be needed.
There is also debate over how to proceed. Some opposition figures have argued the question should go to a national referendum, while Nausėda has said parliament has enough of a mandate to decide on its own. In other words, even with leaders aligned in principle, the path to actually changing the constitution is neither short nor certain.
Why now
The push is rooted in Lithuania's security fears. The country borders Russia's heavily militarized Kaliningrad exclave and Belarus, a close Moscow ally on whose territory Russia has said it stationed tactical nuclear weapons. Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Lithuania has been among NATO's most vocal advocates for stronger deterrence.
Nausėda has argued that Lithuania is now almost the only NATO member still maintaining such a constitutional ban, and has warned against the country becoming a "weak link" within the alliance. The debate also comes amid a wider European conversation about nuclear deterrence, including French proposals for a broader European role and questions about future US deployments.
Lithuania is not alone in revisiting old restrictions: neighboring Finland's parliament recently approved changes to lift its own long-standing legal limits on nuclear weapons, part of the same regional rethink prompted by the war in Ukraine.
A legal step, not a deployment
Officials have been careful to stress the distinction between changing the law and changing what is actually on the ground. Removing Article 137 would alter what Lithuania's own constitution permits; it would not, by itself, bring any nuclear weapons into the country. No NATO ally has publicly proposed stationing nuclear arms there, and any such move would be a separate decision requiring agreement within the alliance.
That distinction has already been tested. In May, the Seimas voted overwhelmingly to uphold a presidential veto of a change to port rules that the president warned could have allowed nuclear-armed ships into the port of Klaipėda, with some lawmakers arguing the constitution imposes an absolute ban as it stands.
For now, then, Lithuania has signaled a clear change of direction — but the ban itself remains on the books, and whether it is ultimately removed will depend on months of parliamentary process still to come.
