Lithuanian Prime Minister Meets US Vice President
At the first such meeting in eight years, US Vice-president Kamala Harris met Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė in Washington on December 7, 2022. The last time a US vice president welcomed a Lithuanian prime minister in Washington was in 2014.
At the meeting with Šimonytė, Harris said that “part of the strength of the relationship between the United States and Lithuania is that we stand for common principles and values, and we stand together in defence of the people of Ukraine and the importance of sovereignty and territorial integrity”. The vice president also sent a message deterring Russia, saying that “Lithuania is an indispensable ally of the United States. It is on the front line of Russian aggression. We stand with you.”
Harris also reiterated the US commitment to NATO Article 5 of common defence, echoing US President Joe Biden. “We will defend every inch of NATO territory. An attack against one is an attack against all,” she said. “As we speak, American forces are standing shoulder to shoulder with the Lithuanians.”
On December 7, the US also confirmed that it will further step up its military presence in the Baltic states and change the status of US forces in Lithuania to “a persistent rotational presence”. Šimonytė thanked Harris for the US presence in Lithuania and said, “we are proud to welcome your troops in the service of peace and freedom”.
US Ambassador Robert Gilchrist informed Minister of National Defense Arvydas Anušauskas that, as part of the ongoing commitment to its Baltic Allies, the United States will further enhance the continuous and persistent US military presence in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.“ In Lithuania, this initially includes transitioning the episodic deployments of an armoured battalion-sized element and field artillery battery to a persistent rotational presence.” The US battalion has been deployed at the Pabradė training area close to Vilnius since 2019, with longer or shorter breaks between rotations.
At the NATO Summit in Madrid, President Biden committed to enhanced rotational deployments and a heel-to-toe presence of US forces in the Baltic region.
At the White House, Prime Minister Šimonytė also met with US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. They discussed US refusal to send long-range ATACMS missiles to Ukraine. The US is citing concerns that such missiles could be used by Ukraine to strike Russian territory and would escalate the conflict. “We had a conversation about this. It seems to me that what we usually say, and I think we have a basis for saying this, is that Russia never needs a pretext for its actions,” Šimonytė told Lithuanian Radio-Television after the meeting. According to the prime minister, “the only kind of reasoning that Russia understands, given the nature of its regime, is a very clear will, deterrence, and sometimes very serious force”. LRT.lt
