The West must change the message it sends to Russia from supporting Ukraine for “as long as it takes” to “whatever it takes” if it wants to deter Moscow from attacking the Baltic states, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday.
“I would start from the joyous fact that whenever I’m listening to a group of friends of Ukraine, I can say that we’re on the same page. We’re committed. We have been committed from the first day and I hope that we will continue doing that,” Landsbergis said at the Davos Ukrainian Breakfast 2024 when asked if Lithuania is worried that emboldened Russia may attack Lithuania.
“There are a couple of things that could be added, especially since we are on the same page. First of all, I think it would be good, speaking about the messages to Putin, to commit not just to ‘as long as it takes’, but change it to ‘victory’ and ‘whatever it takes’. I think that’s a very strong deterring message to Vladimir Putin,” he added.
According to him, the West should also significantly increase the amount of military equipment it sends to Ukraine if it wants to deter Russia from further escalation.
“I can give you one example. There’s a very friendly country close to Lithuania, which is taking its defence extremely seriously. That’s Poland. [...] Now, they have orders for about 1,000 Abrams tanks from the United States, about 500 HIMARS systems, and about 40 Patriot systems,” Landsbergis said.
“Poland is roughly the same size, the same population as Ukraine, and Poland has NATO Article 5. It gives you an idea of what a military planner is planning to have in case Russia attacks. [...]. So, this is what we need to pledge if we are committed to the first fact that we want to win,” he continued.
According to the Lithuanian foreign minister, the Western countries must ask themselves “What kind of message are we sending to Putin?”
“Are we deterring or are we inviting? And this is where the anxiety of the Baltic states and most likely Poland comes from. The problem is that we don’t feel that Putin is deterred enough,” he said.
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