Lithuania parliament votes to lift nuclear arms ban in first vote
Lithuania's parliament voted 106-106 in favour of lifting a constitutional ban on nuclear arms, in the first of two votes required for the change. A second vote is scheduled for January 12.
(Adds detail, background in paragraphs 2-6) VILNIUS, Oct 6 (Reuters) — Lithuania's parliament on Tuesday voted in favour of lifting a constitutional ban on nuclear arms in the country, in a first of two ballots required for the change. President Gitanas Nauseda in July said political parties had agreed on a plan to lift the ban, in a sign of how Russia is resetting security calculations in the region. The legal overhaul, which requires two-thirds majorities in two parliamentary votes to go into effect, is set to remove prohibitions put in place more than three decades ago after Lithuania broke away from the Soviet Union.
On Tuesday, 106 members of the 141-seat parliament voted in favour of the proposed change, with a second vote scheduled for January 12. Nauseda has said there were no immediate plans to store nuclear weapons in Lithuania, but that removing the provision would let the country take action if the security situation changed. Lithuania will remain a party to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Nauseda said in July. com)