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Landsbergis in Gotland: "Any scenario other than Ukraine's victory would seriously affect European security"

Republic of Lithuania - Ministry of Foreign Affairs

2024.04.10

On April 9-10, Lithuania's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gabrielius Landsbergis, participated in the Nordic-Baltic Eight (NB8) Foreign Ministers' meeting in Visby, Sweden. The meeting focused on regional security, preparations for the NATO summit in Washington, D.C., closer NB8 cooperation, Russia's war against Ukraine, and more effective and strategic support to the country facing aggression.

"Support for Ukraine remains our top priority. Ukraine must win this war, and we are firmly committed to supporting it until victory. Any scenario other than Ukraine's victory would seriously affect European security, especially in the Baltic Sea region. The Ukrainian front is under increasing pressure due to the lack of Western military support. To change this, we must find ways to tackle the lack of artillery, ensure air defence, and supply long-range missiles to Ukraine. The Baltic and Nordic states remain among the leading supporters of Ukraine in terms of GDP. Hopefully, other European countries will also increase their support," Landsbergis noted

The head of Lithuania's diplomacy stressed that the West must help Ukraine integrate into the EU and NATO as soon as possible. "It is symbolic that the NB8 Foreign Ministers met on the island of Gotland, where the Gotland Communiqué was signed 35 years ago by representatives of various Lithuanian organisations, expressing to Moscow and the whole world the highest and main goal of all Lithuanians in the world - to re-establish the independent state of Lithuania. Our country has been a free member of the EU and NATO for almost two decades. So today, the most important task is to mobilise the leadership of our region, joining additional efforts of other allies to help Ukraine defeat Russia by increasing military, economic, humanitarian and diplomatic support to Ukraine, helping it to integrate into the EU and NATO as soon as possible," Landsbergis said.

During the meeting, Landsbergis also underlined that the Nordic-Baltic Eight had set an exceptional example of open, modern and results-oriented cooperation. Lithuania is interested in further strengthening this cooperation and finding solutions to common challenges to make the Nordic and Baltic Sea countries resilient to various threats and the region even safer.

"The accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO will help further strengthen the security of the Alliance, the Nordic-Baltic security and defence cooperation," Landsbergis said.

The NB8 is an informal, non-institutionalized regional cooperation format that includes Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, and Sweden. Each year, the NB8 countries rotate to coordinate the format's activities. The coordinating country organizes and hosts meetings during that year. In 2024, the NB8 cooperation is coordinated by Sweden.