Lithuania to hold large-scale mobilization exercise next year

VILNIUS - A large-scale mobilization exercise will be organized in Lithuania next year, Kestutis Budrys, a presidential advisor, said after the State Defense Council meeting on Monday.

"Next year we plan to organize a large-scale general mobilization exercise to check how our whole system works," he said.

According to Laurynas Kasciunas, chair of the parliamentary Committee on National Security and Defense, this would be a mobilization exercise for civilians.

"We have seven vital functions, and we need civilians to play a role in them," he said.

The SDC also assessed the work done on mobilization over the last two years, he said.

Also on Monday the SDC approved the country's State Defense Plan that enshrines the principle of universal defense, "where all state resources – state institutions, the private sector, NGOs and citizens – are mobilized“.