The NATO summit in Vilnius next month will be historic either for its achievements or missed opportunities, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis says, after it became clear that Ukraine will not be offered a membership plan.
“Some people say the summit will in any case be historic. The only question is whether it will be historic because of its achievements or historic because of missed opportunities. Is there such a possibility? It certainly exists,” Landsbergis told reporters at the parliament on Tuesday.
He also says he hopes the remaining weeks until the event “will allow us, as an alliance, to fill in those gaps and move towards a more historic summit in Vilnius”, including giving Ukraine “a clear message” about its NATO membership prospects.
“Lithuania is one of the 31 NATO member countries and we have a political position, we are defending it, we are helping Ukraine with all the instruments and all the forces that we have,” Landsbergis said.
He also noted that it was still important for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to attend the Vilnius meeting.
“I hope he will attend,” Landsbergis said, commenting on doubts of whether the Ukrainian leader would attend the meeting, if his country was left without a NATO membership plan.
Ukraine expects clear NATO membership guarantees in Vilnius. Lithuania and other members of the eastern flank are adamant for a rapprochement between Kyiv and the alliance, but the block has so far failed to agree on a clearer political commitment.
Lithuania’s foreign minister also stressed that Vilnius had its own agenda for the meeting, seeking to be singled out as a vulnerable region due to its geographical location.
“We want to highlight our security challenges that have specifically to do with our geographical position, and as we have borders with both Russia and Belarus, we want this to be reflected through that prism,” the foreign minister said.
The NATO summit in Vilnius is scheduled for July 11-12.
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