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The President in Bratislava: We must defend ourselves not only from the first inch of NATO, but also from the first minute

President of the Republic of Lithuania

June 06, 2023

On Tuesday, President Gitanas Nausėda is participating in a meeting of the leaders of NATO's eastern flank, the Bucharest Nine, with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. Addressing the participants of the meeting, the President stressed that the NATO Summit in Vilnius has to clearly demonstrate that the Alliance is ready to fight not only for every inch of its members, but also from the very first minute of aggression, should the urgency arise.

"Since the Madrid Summit, the security situation in the Baltic region has only worsened. Russia's threat has not gone anywhere, and what is more, the Kremlin is shifting part of its tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus. This shows once again that our posture needs to be strengthened in all directions," Gitanas Nausėda pointed out. The President called on NATO to adopt new regional defense plans before the Vilnius Summit, to consolidate the principle of forward defense, and to strengthen the air defense of the Baltic region and of the Alliance's eastern flank.

President Gitanas Nausėda stressed that another important objective of the Vilnius NATO Summit is to discuss the outlook for Ukraine's membership in the Alliance and a clear path for strengthening political ties between NATO and Ukraine.

"Ukraine's future lies in NATO. We need a concrete path on how to bring Ukraine as close as possible to the Alliance at this moment in time, to bring it closer to a membership invitation. Ukraine can no longer be left in a grey area. We cannot risk having any more wars in Europe," the Lithuanian leader stressed.

Gitanas Nausėda expressed the hope that the NATO Summit in Vilnius will see the leaders of 32 full-fledged NATO member countries sit at a table, and urged the allies to focus their efforts on completing the process of ratification of Sweden's membership in the Alliance.

Addressing the leaders of the Bucharest Nine, the Lithuanian leader also stressed the need to reach an agreement in Vilnius on the increase of defense spending by NATO members.

"My hope is that in Vilnius, the 2% of GDP threshold for defense will become a floor, not a ceiling. But if we are serious about the security of our countries, we must aim even higher. We need to give a rapid boost to the defense industry, not only in order to continue to help Ukraine, but also to strengthen our own defense capabilities," the Lithuanian President spoke in Bratislava.