NATO needs combat-ready brigade size units at its forefront, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda said on Friday, addressing participants at a high-level meeting of parliament speakers from NATO member countries in Vilnius.
“Our task at hand is to bring combat-ready brigade size units to the forefront of the alliance. Relying on reinforcements only, no matter how quick, would simply not do the trick. It would only signal to the aggressor that there might exist a possibility to test NATO’s resolve. We must eliminate this risk,” the president said.
Nausėda also said he hoped that new defence plans would be approved at the NATO summit in Vilnius.
“I hope that at the Vilnius Summit, we will be able to approve new defence plans, including regional ones. Even more importantly, we will have to equip these plans with capabilities. The necessary forces must be assigned, and proper training should begin. Robust decisions on command structure, prepositioning and enablement must also follow,” the Lithuanian leader said.
As Ukraine continues to fight Russia’s brutal invasion, Nausėda insisted that Moscow would not stop easily.
“It is Ukraine that currently keeps our people away from the horrible destiny that befell Bucha, Mariupol, Bakhmut – you name it. If we lose Ukraine – Europe could very well be the next victim,” he said.
NATO partners need to reinforce their own defence and security and to confirm the credibility of their deterrence, the Lithuanian president insisted.
“I have no doubt that NATO must remain the strongest force. I hope that the NATO Summit in Vilnius in July will contribute to this task,” Nausėda stressed.
“Thus, I’m looking forward to a rotational air defence model being approved, with provisions for the necessary training and integration of our capabilities,” he added.
“We are going to achieve the ambitious goal at the Vilnius summit of making 2 percent [of GDP spent on defence] the floor, not the cap, and parliaments have a direct role here, so I hope this will be a good opportunity to prepare for the summit,” the president later told reporters at the Lithuanian parliament, Seimas.
Vilnius is hosting a high-level meeting of speakers of parliaments of NATO member countries on Friday, held to discuss the regional security and preparations for the forthcoming NATO summit in Vilnius on July 11–12.
Invitations to the event in Vilnius have been extended to the speakers of the parliaments of NATO member countries, as well as of Sweden and Ukraine, and the chairs of the parliamentary foreign and security committees of these states.
On Saturday, the delegations will visit the General Silvestras Žukauskas Training Area in Pabradė.
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