On Tuesday, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda met with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who is seen as the front-runner in the race to succeed Jens Stoltenberg as NATO’s secretary general.
Following their meeting in Vilnius, Nausėda confirmed Lithuania’s support for Rutte’s candidacy to become NATO secretary general.
“We are doing this for many reasons. I’ve known Mark for many years, he was one of those politicians who recognised the Russian threat quite early [...] and is particularly sensitive and understanding of the threats to NATO’s eastern flank,” the president told a press conference.
Nausėda said that during the meeting, he heard Rutte’s concerns about NATO’s eastern flank and they discussed concrete measures to improve its defence.
According to Rutte, Lithuania could count on NATO in case of an attack.
“Lithuania’s borders are the borders of the EU and NATO. That means our borders too, so [...] we will defend these borders,” he said in Vilnius. “My message to the Lithuanian people is that you are not alone, you are members of NATO and the EU, and you can always count on the support of all of us.”
The Dutch prime minister stressed that the EU and NATO must work actively “to strengthen their military resilience in the face of the Russian military threat”.
Nausėda also said that Lithuania is negotiating with more than one country for their participation in the rotational air defence system in the Baltics.
“I can tell you that these are major NATO allies. I hope that in a few months, we will have good news in this area as well,” he said.
Former Lithuanian Defence Minister Arvydas Anušauskas said in early March that a rotational air defence system would be operational later this year and that Patriot air defence systems would be deployed in Lithuania. However, he did not name any contributing countries or a specific date.
Newsletter
Every Friday morning.
