Leaders of all three Baltic countries met with the US president on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Brussels on June 14. In a press release, Lithuanian president Gitanas Nausėda said: “Our aim is for the US military presence in Lithuania and the Baltic states to be reinforced, as this would be the best and most significant expression of focus on the security of our region”. According to the Lithuanian president, the involvement of the United States in strengthening regional security and defence “is the most important deterrent factor for Russia”.
Washington is aware of the threats faced by the Baltic states and was well informed about Russia’s increasingly aggressive posture as well as its plans to integrate Belarus into Russian military structures, Nausėda said. “We have heard the assurance that the US regards our region as strategically important for the Alliance, where deterrence and defence must be strengthened,” noted the Lithuanian leader.
Following the NATO summit, Biden will travel to Geneva to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “I am confident that President Joe Biden will send a clear message about NATO’s unity and mobilisation in the upcoming meeting with President Putin in response to Russia’s aggressive and unfriendly actions,” Nausėda said. He added in a Facebook post that Biden had pledged to defend security interests of the region during his meeting with the Russian president. Nausėda feels that the link between the Baltic countries and the United States has become stronger as a result of the meeting.
On the eve of the NATO Summit in Brussels, President Gitanas Nausėda met with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey to discuss security and defense issues in the Baltic Sea and in the Black Sea.
With news from LRT.lt
