At the end of April Lithuania’s Seimas approved the creation of the Kapčiamiestis military training ground in the Lazdijai district.
The Ministry of Defence announced that landowners whose properties lie in that territory will be sent notices, that offers of compensation are expected at the beginning of next year, and that payments will be completed by the middle of 2027. Military exercises at the training ground are planned to begin in 2028, and shooting ranges will be built by 2030. It is planned that 3,500 to 4,000 soldiers will take part in exercises there, mainly from Lithuania’s armed forces.
The Minister of Defence, Robertas Kaunas, said the training ground is extremely important for the country’s defence and is needed both by Lithuania’s national division and by the German brigade stationed in Lithuania.
According to information from the ministry, Kapčiamiestis was chosen for its strategic location, close to the Suwałki corridor, the narrow strip of land between Belarus and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.
The choice of location has, however, provoked a negative reaction from some local residents and various groups, expressed in a variety of protest actions.
The training ground will cover around 14,600 hectares, and at present there are almost 2,000 private landholdings on it, mostly forest land. State land will be transferred to the ministry’s administration, lease contracts will be terminated, and the land use category will be reclassified for state defence needs.
The plan also provides for the expropriation of property for public needs, which means that owners will no longer be able to transfer the property freely to other people or change its intended use. Compensation will be paid according to market value, taking non-material losses into account as well and offering the possibility of acquiring an alternative property.
Payments for residential buildings are expected to exceed 51,000 euros, while more than 5,000 euros will be paid for agricultural, forest or commercial plots. Residents will have the option of transferring the property to the state on favourable terms within 10 years. Compensatory measures are also planned in connection with relocating protected sites and restoring habitats.
A protest outside parliament
On Thursday around 100 people gathered outside parliament holding Lithuanian flags and placards reading “Hands off Lithuania’s forests!” and “No to the destruction of forests!”.
One of the protesters, a pensioner named Osvaldas, called the proposed Kapčiamiestis military training ground a crime: “To seize this landscape, this beautiful corner of Lithuania, is a crime.”
Other demonstrators claimed the military facility is being developed not for reasons of national security but for business interests.
“It is only business, where money is the main thing. Nothing has been properly discussed. Whom do they serve? Certainly not Lithuania,” said Zita, who had come from Kaišiadorys to take part in the protest.
The protest demonstration, organised by the movement “For Lithuania’s Forests”, was already the second held on Independence Square over this question. Last week around 300 people gathered outside the Seimas in a similar protest. In a statement to the media the protest organisers expressed the hope that decisions about the military training ground will be taken only after the possible environmental impact has been fully assessed.