(Adnkronos) – Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovile Sakaliene has announced her resignation due to divergences within the government regarding the amount of military spending included in the next budget. In a Facebook post, Sakaliene spoke of “fundamentally different conceptions on the matter of strengthening defense” with Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene, also from the Social Democratic Party. Ruginiene described the resignation as “inevitable,” emphasizing that she cannot allow “misunderstandings and problems to arise in such an important sector as defense.”
The divergences deepened last week during a meeting with defense analysts on 2026 expenditures. At the end of the meeting, some analysts present reported that the government would not have honored its commitment to allocate 5 percent of GDP to defense, as previously planned. On the 15th of the month, Ruginiene announced that 4.79 billion euros would be allocated to defense next year, which is 5.38 percent of GDP, an increase due to the deteriorating security situation on NATO’s eastern flank after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Prime Minister anticipated her intention to “continue to increase the defense budget” and accused Sakaliene of demonstrating “a total lack of willingness to cooperate.”
