The President appointed a new Minister of National Defense

The Presidency announces that G. Nausėda, following Article 84, Clause 7 of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania and taking into account the proposals of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Lithuania Ingrida Šimonytė, signed decrees accepting the resignation of the Minister of National Defense Arvydas Anušauskas and appointing Laurynas Kasčiūnas as the Minister of National Defense.

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After the Special Investigations Service (STT) questioned L. Kasčiūnas as a witness on Monday, the Presidency said earlier that it would check whether this changed its assessment.

“We will have to check whether STT has other information to know and whether the evaluation itself changes, then there will be one or the other decision,” Kęstutis Budrys, representative of the country’s leader, told reporters on Monday.

President G. Nausėda said last week that he had received information about the candidate from the services, but he emphasized that he wanted to evaluate it further.

L. Kasčiūnas told BNS that he told officials about the Ministry of National Defense’s closedness to foreign investors. Later on Monday, the Minister of Economy and Innovation Aušrinė Armonaitė was interviewed.

Earlier, STT interviewed the liberal member of the Seimas Raimundas Lopatas, the resigning Minister of National Defense Arvydas Anušauskas and the former Deputy Minister Vilias Semeškas.

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A. Anušauskas said that he “had to close the doors of companies” that tried to bribe employees of the national defense system, but these found their way to the Seimas.

The minister later softened his tone and claimed that with such statements he was raising the issue of undeclared meetings between politicians and lobbyists.

Greetings from A. Anušauskas

“The decree has been published. Therefore, I also thank the soldiers and national security personnel who sent their wishes and evaluations. Together we expressed the determination to continue and finish the work,” A. Anušauskas wrote on Facebook on Monday.

A. Anušauskas wished the new minister to “do work that really strengthens the country’s defense”.

“Interaction with allies is a necessary condition for our security, which needs to be ensured by the national defense system that has the necessary knowledge from them. Especially when receiving the German brigade, where the work started has no right to even stop. The National Guard is designed to operate in crisis (and military) conditions, so I am confident that it will demonstrate its resilience and capabilities when needed. In a word, I wish success to the appointed minister, and at the same time to all those concerned about the security of Lithuania”, he wrote.

What jobs does L. Kasčiūnas promise?

L. Kasčiūnas, who is leaving the position of chairman of the National Security and Defense Committee of the Seimas, names the preparation to receive the German brigade, conscription reform, agreement on additional funds for defense, development of the drone program as priorities.

L. Kasčiūnas also promises to speed up the work that was missed by the current head of the ministry A. Anušauskas – to create a system of military commandantships within a month, to take a more proactive approach to the integration of drones into the defense system.

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“The priority, of course, is the German brigade – this is already an irreversible process, but we must be ready to do all the homework that depends on us, so that in 2027 the brigade here has already developed its full operational capacity. I also emphasized that one of the priorities is the reform of convocation in the Seimas, support needs to be mobilized and I will do that,” L. Kasciūnas told reporters after the meeting with the president last Thursday.

Speaking about other priorities, he noted that the creation of the division will depend on the available funds, so it is necessary to make decisions on additional funds for defense so that “all together, both the opposition and the position, find a compromise option for the sustainable financing of defense.”