Baltic States – CIS, Belarus, Ecology, Lithuania, Nuclear power plant, Security

The ministry is ready to table the respective draft legislation to the parliament once it reconvenes for the fall session, according to the vice-minister.  

"Municipalities and personal health care institutions will be obliged to have a month's supply of personal protective equipment," he told, adding that the requirement will not apply to private individuals.  

The Seimas Committee on National Security and Defense met behind closed doors earlier on Wednesday to discuss Astravyets threats.  

Dainius Gaizauskas, the committee's chairman, told the media after the meeting that the drat amendments "will oblige all of us to have the necessary supplies, gas masks, (iodine) tablets and water for at least a month."  

Belarus' Energy Ministry said on Tuesday that "the physical launch" of the Astravyets plant's first reactor "is planned for the coming days".  

The facility will have two Russian-made VVER reactors with a capacity of 1,200 megawatts each. It is located in the region of Grodno, about 50 kilometers from Vilnius and less than 30 kilometers from the Lithuanian border.

Plans call for switching the second reactor on about a year after the launch of the first one. 

Vilnius is the biggest critic of the Astravyets plant and is determined to boycott its electricity. Minsk denies that the facility fails to meet international safety standards.