Lithuanian Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas expects that the return of Donald Trump to the White House will not lead to a deterioration in Vilnius’ relations with the US administration.
“We can see from the first signals that the new US administration is taking bilateral cooperation seriously,” he told an LRT TV programme on Wednesday.
According to Paluckas, relations with the new US administration are being “very intensively established” both through the diplomatic corps and individual contacts between politicians.
“Every effort is being made to understand as quickly and as well as possible the position of the new US administration and the new president on various issues. The whole of Europe is reading between the lines and trying to understand what Mr Trump sometimes says,” he said.
The prime minister said there were initial concerns regarding the US stance on Ukraine and the war, but these positions seem to be “normalising”.
“We can see that after the inauguration, these positions are becoming increasingly balanced or normalising. I am confident that we will continue to have strong relations with the US,” he said.
When asked whether he is planning a visit to the US, Paluckas told LRT TV that there are “many plans for visits” but domestic issues such as defence financing and drafting the new budget need to be addressed first.
On Wednesday, Trump urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to make a peace deal with Ukraine, threatening Moscow with sanctions and tariffs if it does not agree to end the war.
However, the US president did not tell reporters whether he would continue his predecessor Joe Biden’s policy of providing military aid to Ukraine.
Trump was sworn in for his second term as US president on January 20.
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