Lithuanian PM backs Ottawa Convention exit, defmin wants regional solution

VILNIUS - Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas says Lithuania should withdraw from the Ottawa Convention banning anti-personnel mines. Meanwhile Defense Minister Dovile Sakaliene stresses the importance of a regional solution.

"I believe we should withdraw," the prime minister told reporters at the Presidential Palace after his meeting with President Gitanas Nauseda on Monday, adding that that this issue was not discussed during the meeting, but he was confident that the Defense and Foreign Ministries would resolve the issue.

Sakaliene says she has not yet received official military advice on Lithuania's withdrawal from the convention, but has previously said that such advice would be the key element in making a decision on the issue.

"There's been no official military advice yet because the draft sent by e-mail is not official military advice. Our military advice will be ready shortly and then we will have the official position of the army," the minister told reporters on Monday.

In her words, the goal is to have a common regional strategy and the upcoming meetings with her counterparts "will allow discussing the issue pretty soon".

For his part, the country's Chief of Defense General Raimundas Vaiksnoras has said he would support the country's withdrawal from the treaty because it would free up the army's hands.

In December, Kasciunas, the then defense minister, said he would initiate a discussion on the country's withdrawal from the Ottawa Treaty as such a discussion was already taking place in Finland.

Kasciunas said at the time that military advice had been given on the issue, showing that Lithuania needed such a capability.

On Monday, Kasciunas vowed to collect citizens' signatures for the Seimas to consider the issue, if the Defense Ministry fails to take initiative on the issue before the start of the Seimas' spring session.. He also said the potential exit from the convention would be discussed by the parliamentary Committee on National Security and Defense.

The withdrawal from the convention requires a presidential motion, and the denouncement needs the support of at least 86 MPs.