At the Munich Security Conference, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda warned that Russia poses "a long-term threat" that frontline states like his country are only too well aware of. Nauseda believes Europeans need to present a more united front when it comes to countering that threat.
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00:00Mr. President, normally here at Munich we're talking about very serious security and defense
00:06issues, literally military arsenals, ammunition ramp-ups, things like that.
00:12Now we seem to be talking about the transatlantic relationship and the, you know, actually the
00:19strength of it.
00:20So with what you've heard here today and at NATO over the last couple of days, I mean,
00:26what's your assessment?
00:27Lithuania and the United States normally have very strong ties, don't they?
00:31Exactly, and this is really the situation where we are closely watching these discussions
00:38about the transatlantic bond.
00:40But you know, you mentioned our abilities and our military capacities or capacities
00:47of our military defense, and we are talking about transatlantic bond.
00:53I think those issues are interlinked, and our ability to deliver more, to produce more,
01:01to take more responsibility, to go to the burden, to share the burden fairly, it's very
01:11important.
01:12And right now we have very concrete figures, one billion military defense of United States
01:18and one trillion and five billion euros of European Union.
01:27So this is the reason why Americans are asking us to do more.
01:32And I think and I believe this is not about the transatlantic bond.
01:36The transatlantic bond will remain strong.
01:39At least this is the task of the countries like Lithuania, because we always relied
01:49on strong transatlantic bond.
01:53And we are ready to take those responsibilities to increase our defense spending and we go
01:59radical way.
02:00We plan to increase our defense spending up to 5-6% of GDP in 2026-2030.
02:09That's right.
02:10You are one of those countries who hasn't shied away from this responsibility.
02:12You've also got a border with Russia.
02:15The frontline states are generally the high spenders, but therefore, as you said, these
02:21issues are interlinked.
02:22So does this continuous stream of insults that you seem to be getting today in this
02:29speech, not you personally, he didn't mention Lithuania as one of the countries, but does
02:34this help?
02:36That isn't necessarily going to make you spend more or make the laggards who are at 1.2%,
02:41that's not going to make them spend more.
02:43So is this really the way to do it?
02:45I don't know.
02:46I remember 2019 as the discussions between the partners, they are also not very polite
02:53and sometimes the accusations which were not very pleasant to some people sitting at the
03:00table.
03:01At the end of the day, we achieved the result and NATO became stronger.
03:08Is this the same situation now?
03:13It's too premature to draw the conclusions and to say that probably we will go this way.
03:20I would prefer the very honest and frank conversation between the allies, between the partners,
03:27not accusing each other.
03:30Friendly and frank.
03:31Yes, but if it leads to higher defence spending in Germany, France, Spain, other countries
03:38which are quite far away from Russia and Russian aggression, then I would say, okay, we can
03:47go this way.
03:48But of course, we all understand what are the long-term threats and long-term threats
03:54are really very dangerous and Russia poses a long-term threat for the next 20-30 years.
04:02We have to realise that.
04:04The front-line countries understand it very well.
04:07But that's exactly the point.
04:09J.D. Vance didn't talk about that in his speech.
04:11That would normally be a big topic when you're facing a war right across your border.
04:18Yes, exactly.
04:19And what is going on now in Ukraine, this also could be solved in two ways.
04:29Quick solution, quick deal, or the deal which is appropriate and acceptable for Ukraine
04:39and for whole Europe.
04:41First way is wrong way to go, because I think Russia is not ready to make the fair deal.
04:48Russia wants to have the break to regroup, restructure, produce more ammunition, military
04:56equipment and then organise the next offensive.
04:59I don't know where it will be.
05:01Maybe in Ukraine, maybe there will be other targets, including Baltic countries too.
05:10Another way, second way, is just to try to find fear, peace and speak with Russia from
05:19the position of strength.
05:21Probably Ukraine is not ready to speak from the position of strength, but United States
05:27are ready.
05:28They can impose the sanctions, they can reduce the oil prices across the world.
05:35And it would hit Russian economy severely.
05:39This is not the case right now.
05:40We imposed so many sanctions, we imposed so many sanctions in European Union.
05:47But did they help us to stop Russia's war machine?
05:52Unfortunately not.
05:54Last question, wouldn't you feel better though if Europeans were part of these negotiations?
05:58Like you say, you bring a different perspective, you bring also the ability to impose sanctions,
06:04to add security guarantees, which is what would be expected from Europe.
06:08If you're excluded from those talks, how can you trust them?
06:12Of course Europe should be here, because this is about not only the security of Ukraine,
06:18but this is about the security of whole Europe.
06:21As I mentioned, Ukraine is only the first target.
06:25This time the play is much more difficult and complicated and of course Putin will not
06:32stop in Ukraine.
06:34If he succeeds there, there will be the second target probably in Europe.
06:39This is the reason why Europe has to be at the table, has to decide, but of course in
06:45order to achieve that, Europe should have very strong position what to do, what should
06:52be the conditions of this peace.
06:54And so far we are not united.
06:56Unfortunately I have to admit that there are some countries which are going different way
07:02and we cannot reach the consensus at the table.
07:06This is a problem, but we have to try to solve this.
07:09Okay, that's all our time.
07:11Thank you Mr. President.
07:12Thank you so much.
07:13All the best.