In a strongly-worded interview with Elta, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis suggested that it is only a matter of time before Russia attacks Europe once the war in Ukraine is over without a total defeat for Moscow.
“If Ukraine, as we are seeing, is forced to negotiate, the world, especially parts of it close to Ukraine, must start preparing for another war. I cannot say when that will be. Maybe in 10 years, maybe in five years, maybe in a few years. It is very difficult for me to say. But – and I do feel this and I understand it very clearly – we may have very little time,” he said in the interview published on Monday.
He later specified that he drew the conclusion from Russia’s military reforms.
“Russia started the war with 200,000 troops massed near Ukraine. Today, Russia has at least twice as many [troops]. The plans they have announced about reforming the army seem to be genuine. This is not their traditional propaganda. The military reform is directed against NATO and against us,” Landsbergis said on Tuesday.
In the original interview, Landsbergis was also insisting on the need for Lithuania to radically rethink its defence and significantly boost military spending.
“I cannot say that we have started discussion that reflects the real geopolitical situation beyond Lithuania’s borders,” he said. “Although we support Ukraine and it is one of the most unifying issues for the country, we have not dared to say how much it is directly linked to our security,” Landsbergis told Elta.
“I think that Lithuania must actively think about changes to the security concept and the security pyramid constructed 30 years ago,” according to Landsbergis.
He said that global changes require Lithuania to fundamentally rethink its national security. This includes, Landsbergis admitted, the planning for the possibility that the US may rethink its interests and commitments in Europe.
“[The US] remains and will continue to be an essential pillar of our security. But we need to understand the changing interests of the US much better and be ready to respond to them,” he said.
Landsbergis also railed against moves to seek a negotiated settlement in the Ukraine war and reach a European security arrangement that would include Russia, comparing it to a “discussion with a cannibal about the dinner menu”.
“They say we’ll still need to talk... But we say that Europe’s security must be built as security from Russia. Not with Russia. […] We need to help Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, Lithuania, Poland to defend themselves from Russia, because its aims are imperial, offensive, political, diplomatic – all the methods that it uses are designed to subjugate us, to destroy us, to kill us, to wipe us out, to annex us. That is their policy,” Landsbergis insisted.
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