On Wednesday, Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė met with US Vice President Kamala Harris in Washington. At the first such meeting in eight years, Harris called Lithuania an indispensable ally.
The last time the US vice president welcomed the Lithuanian prime minister in Washington was in 2014. Back then, Russia had just started a war in Eastern Ukraine. This time, it is fighting an all-out war in Ukraine.
At the meeting with Šimonytė, Harris said that “part of the strength of the relationship between the United States and Lithuania is that we stand for common principles and values, and we stand together in defence of the people of Ukraine and the importance of sovereignty and territorial integrity”.
The vice president also sent a message of deterrence to Russia, saying that “Lithuania is an indispensable ally of the United States. It is on the front line of Russian aggression. We stand with you.”
Harris also reiterated the US commitment to NATO Article 5 of common defence.
“We will defend every inch of NATO territory. An attack against one is an attack against all,” she said. “As we speak, American forces are standing shoulder to shoulder with the Lithuanians.”
On Wednesday, the US also confirmed that it will further step up its military presence in the Baltic states and change the status of US forces in Lithuania to “a persistent rotational presence”.
Šimonytė thanked Harris for the US presence in Lithuania and said, “we are proud to welcome your troops in the service of peace and freedom”.
Differences of opinion
At the White House, Prime Minister Šimonytė also met with US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. They discussed the US’ refusal to send long-range ATACMS missiles to Ukraine
The US is citing concerns that such missiles could be used by Ukraine to strike Russian territory and would escalate the conflict.
“We had a conversation about this. It seems to me that what we usually say, and I think we have a basis for saying this, is that Russia never needs a pretext for its actions,” Šimonytė told LRT after the meeting.
According to the prime minister, “the only kind of reasoning that Russia understands, given the nature of its regime, is a very clear will, deterrence, and sometimes very serious force”.
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