[ad_1]
The Lithuanian parliament decided on Thursday to condemn the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which bans the use of cluster munitions.
After Lithuania withdrew from the international agreement, there are no longer any restrictions on the purchase, storage and use of cluster munitions in war.
According to Lithuanian media reports, the withdrawal from the congress was supported by 103 MPs, with one MP voting against and four MPs abstaining.
Defense Minister Laurinus Kasciunas, one of the initiators of the issue, claimed that changes in the geopolitical situation prompted the withdrawal from the convention.
“These conventions are important when all countries abide by them. The problem in this case is that the Russian Federation, which is committing aggression against Ukraine and has imperialist ambitions, does not abide by these rules,” Kaschyunas said at a meeting of Congress.
He said that when Lithuania ratified and acceded to the convention, it was already a different time.
“Now everything has become more complicated and it would be a big mistake if the state, in preparing for defense, immediately said which capabilities it would not use for defense,” the defense minister noted.
Kashchinas also assured that modern cluster munitions are safer and their consequences are controllable.
Last summer, the then Defense Minister Arvydas Anousauskas expressed such a wish, which triggered the discussion of Lithuania’s withdrawal from the Oslo Convention on the prohibition of cluster munitions. For reasons of national security, the Ministry of Defense called for a reassessment of the provisions of the international document, which Lithuania ratified in 2010.
[ad_2]
Source link
