Jieznienė urges Lithuanians to prepare survival bags
Monday 2nd November 2026 on 18:15 in
Lithuania
Lina Jieznienė, a commander in Lithuania’s National Defence Volunteer Forces, said people should prepare a survival bag rather than an evacuation bag because “we are not going anywhere,” LRT reported. She made the remarks during a television discussion on national defence ahead of a meeting of the State Defence Council.
The programme examined citizens’ roles in defending the country and proposals to speed up the introduction of universal conscription. Participants included Lithuanian Riflemen’s Union combat unit commander Sigitas Jonikas, journalist and reserve soldier Ignas Krupavičius, Independence Act signatory Arūnas Degutis and Tomas Godliauskas, head of the Universal Defence association.
Jonikas said it was not easy to give up weekends with family and spend time training in the woods. He said he devoted 10 to 20 hours a week to the Riflemen’s Union because he wanted to be able to defend himself, his country, his land, his people and his family.
He said the whole community was needed for national defence and that everyone could contribute. At one exercise, he saw a participant in a wheelchair wearing a uniform. The person was a cyber specialist, Jonikas said.
Krupavičius said his family knew where shelters were and where their bags were prepared, though he hoped they would not need them. He said nobody could know how they would react in a real crisis, adding that he might be afraid to shoot even at an enemy, but understood he had to be prepared.
Degutis said people often failed to distinguish individual preparedness and skills from their integration into institutions. He said institutions and different groups in society needed to be included in a common defence effort.
Godliauskas said the aim of universal defence was to keep the state functioning. While some people would defend the country, others would need to bake bread or provide healthcare, he said. He added that institutions, organisations and communities should establish their roles and objectives in peacetime.