Lithuanian Defense Minister announced her resignation due to loss of Prime Minister's trust
Kyiv • UNN
Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovilė Šakalienė announced her resignation after Prime Minister Inga Rugienienė publicly expressed doubts about her leadership. Šakalienė stated that it is impossible to work in an environment of distrust.
Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovilė Šakalėnė announced her intention to resign after Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė publicly expressed doubts about her leadership. According to Šakalėnė, it is impossible to work in an environment of distrust, and she will discuss the final decision on her resignation with the president, UNN reports with reference to LRT.
Details
On Tuesday, October 21, Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovilė Šakalėnė announced that she had decided to resign, stating that she could not continue her work after Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė publicly expressed a lack of confidence in her leadership.
I have a draft resignation letter, and I will discuss it with the president today. At this time, I see no reason to change my decision. This is politics – trust from the prime minister and the party leader – that essentially determines whether you can be delegated certain work. I see no possibility of working in an environment where there is no trust
On Monday, Šakalėnė met with Prime Minister Ruginienė.
The Prime Minister made it clear that her trust in me had wavered. I don't quite understand how one can work in such an atmosphere
I work as part of a team – people who left other positions to join the ministry out of patriotism deserve to be part of the final decision
Addition
Last week, Ruginienė demanded an explanation from Šakalėnė regarding an informal briefing by the Ministry of Defense for social media opinion leaders on the 2026 defense budget, as well as her alleged ties to representatives of the defense industry.
On Monday, Ruginienė announced that the Ministry of Defense would lose responsibility for overseeing the defense industry. This portfolio will now be handled by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economy and Innovation, which Šakalėnė called a "surprise."
Although Šakalė said she knew nothing about the informal meeting, both the prime minister and the leader of the Social Democratic Party, Mindaugas Sinkevičius, stated that they no longer trusted her.
The dispute arose after an informal briefing led to online claims that the government was not fulfilling its promise to allocate 5% of GDP to defense. However, the latest draft state budget for next year allocates 5.38% of GDP, or 4.79 billion euros, to defense spending.
Šakalė stated that she maintains a "firm position" on ensuring sufficient defense funding in negotiations with both the government and public organizations.
I see no reason to persecute or punish people who organized one informal meeting or another
She also reported that previous government plans in October projected 4.87% of GDP for the defense budget, while figures discussed in the summer were below 4%.
The only reason I am still in this position is my determination to ensure the strongest possible defense for our country
No one can say exactly what I did wrong or where my competence failed the ministry. I only have two things – my reputation and my competence. And if both are questioned, I will have nothing else left