STATEMENTS & BRIEFINGS
Vilnius Begins to See the Neris as a River, Not a Military Asset
In recent years, the Neris River has become the subject of an unusual public debate. Alongside efforts to preserve its unique ecosystem, proposals emerged to transform the river into a transport corridor for wartime evacuation. Among the ideas discussed were large-scale river engineering works intended to make the Neris navigable for evacuating the population of Vilnius in the event of armed conflict.
Our House has repeatedly warned that such an approach could irreversibly damage the river’s natural ecosystem, destroy spawning grounds for the Wild Baltic Salmon, affect Natura 2000 protected areas, and still fail to achieve its stated objective. Even with hundreds of boats available, evacuating hundreds of thousands of residents downstream would take many hours—or even several days—making such scenarios highly questionable under real wartime conditions. These concerns were examined in our monitoring report on the transboundary environmental risks facing the Viliya–Neris basin and in our analytical article The Neris as a Front Line: Smuggling, Radiation, and Evacuation by River.
In February 2025, the Vilnius City Municipality presented its analytical report, “Neries upės urbanistinės vizijos esamos situacijos analizė” (“Analysis of the Current Situation for the Urban Vision of the Neris River”). Rather than focusing on military logistics, the report presents the Neris primarily as one of the city’s most valuable natural, recreational, and public spaces. It emphasizes biodiversity conservation, ecological resilience, integration of the river into urban life, the creation of accessible public spaces, and the need to balance development with environmental protection.
One particularly encouraging proposal included in the report is the construction of the new Užvingis pedestrian and cycling bridge across the Neris. By a happy coincidence, the bridge is planned to be built almost next to the Our House office, creating a new connection between the Lazdynai district and Vingis Park. It is a good example of how a river can bring people together and improve urban life without sacrificing its ecological value.
We welcome this vision. The Neris is one of Lithuania’s most beautiful rivers, and its future should be shaped by environmental stewardship, public access, recreation, and sustainable urban development—not by its transformation into a military transport corridor.
The full report of the Vilnius City Municipality is available here:
https://nerisatgimsta.lt/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/260303-Neries-bukletas_compressed.pdf