"Our election manifesto says it should be not less than 3.5% [of gross domestic product (GDP)], and this is unavoidable," the Social Democrat leader and MEP, Vilija Blinkevičiūtė, said yesterday.
Lithuania, which shares a 179-mile border with Russia, has been one of the EU's strongest supporters of Kyiv and one of the fiercest critics of Moscow under the Baltic state's outgoing conservative-led government. Blinkevičiūtė promised that that would not change after her centre-left party won 52 seats in the 141-member parliament.
Polls show as many as three-quarters of Lithuania's 2.8 million people believe the country could be the target of a Russian invasion in the near future. Lithuania is already among the top Nato spenders, allocating about 3% of GDP to defence.
According to the Kiel Institute, a German thinktank, Lithuania is also among the top three countries that provide aid to Ukraine as a proportion of GDP.
Denne historien er fra October 29, 2024-utgaven av The Guardian.
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Denne historien er fra October 29, 2024-utgaven av The Guardian.
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