With Donald Trump’s choice of Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate in the US presidential election, “we are entering a territory of uncertainty”, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis has said.
“We are, of course, approaching or entering a territory of uncertainty and a history where it is difficult to predict with certainty the actions of both partners and opponents,” Landsbergis told reporters at the parliament on Tuesday.
However, he added that Lithuania does not to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries.
“Lithuania is not involved in the elections in the United States of America, we cannot vote, we cannot help to choose candidates for vice-president or other positions, and therefore I would not like to get involved in that process, even with public comments,” he said.
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Right-wing Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, 39, once was a harsh critic of Trump but has since become one of his most loyal supporters in Congress.
Asked what Vance’s candidacy could mean for Ukraine, Landsbergis said that it means that “we are moving into the unknown”.
“Whether or not some strong statements […] will be implemented – we cannot know today,” the minister reflected.
Vance first made his views on Ukraine clear in an interview in 2022, where he said: “I got to be honest with you, I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine one way or another.”
In February 2024, when Vance made his first appearance at the Munich Security Conference, he told the Politico that the US needed to reassess its support for Ukraine and skipped a meeting with the Ukraine delegation and other senators.
Vance is a supporter of former President Trump’s isolationist, anti-immigration “America First” movement, and he appears even further to the political right than his new boss on some issues. On the other hand, he has advocated for hawkish interventionists policies in the Middle East and South East Asia.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden has dismissed Trump’s newly-picked running mate J.D. Vance as a “clone” of the former Republican president.
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