On July 25 outgoing Chief of Defence Lt Gen Jonas Vytautas Žukas will hand over the command to the new Chief of Defence of Lithuania Maj Gen Valdemaras Rupšys in the Cathedral Square in front of parading troops. The regalia of command will be presented to the incoming Chief of Defence by the Commander-in-Chief of the Lithuanian Armed Forces, President of the Republic of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda.
Platoons of all services and their subordinate brigades of the Lithuanian Armed Forces with ceremonial colours, the Honour Guard Company in present-time and 14th c. uniforms and weaponry will line up in the Cathedral Square, the Lithuanian Armed Forces Band will perform. The ceremony will be attended by top leadership of the National Defence System and the Lithuanian Armed Forces, NGO representatives, general audience.
On July 18 the Seimas approved Major General Valdemaras Rupšys, incumbent Commander of the Land Force, as the next Chief of Defence. Maj Gen V. Rupšys joined the Lithuanian Armed Forces in 1990 and had been in charge of different units of the Lithuanian Armed Forces, headed the Human Resources Department of the Ministry of National Defence, etc. He was appointed as Commander of the Lithuanian Land Force in 2016 and promoted to major general after two years. V. Rupšys is an alumnus of the General Jonas Žemaits Military Academy of Lithuania, Baltic Defence College (Estonia), U.S. Army War College.
The stepping down Chief of Defence Lt Gen Jonas Vytautas Žukas assumed the responsibilities in July 2014 succeeding Lt Gen Arvydas Pocius who had been in office since 2009.
According to the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, the Chief of Defence is appointed by the President of the Republic of Lithuania for the maximal tenure of five years. The key peacetime mission of the Chief of Defence is to prepare the Armed Forces for armed state defence.
The formal command handover ceremony will take place on July 25 at 10.00 hrs in the Cathedral Square of Vilnius.
POC: Capt Andrius Dilda, +370 618 26857, [email protected]
Photo credits: Pte 1st Class Michail Lysenko
