WASHINGTON -- Against the backdrop of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis says NATO leaders must remember what's at stake as they celebrate the military alliance's 75th anniversary at a summit this week.
Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine
RFE/RL's Ukraine Live Briefing gives you the latest developments on Russia's invasion, Western military aid, the plight of civilians, and territorial control maps. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here.
Landsbergis, who spoke on July 9 at a Washington think tank as the summit got under way, said his team approached the gathering reflecting on the reality of what NATO faces in Ukraine, not the memory of the alliance’s inception in 1949.
Russian President Vladimir Putin “is making sure we do that, unfortunately, with a very brutal attack against civilian objects again in Ukraine -- with an attack on a children’s hospital,” Landsbergis said, referring to a deadly attack that occurred in Kyiv on the eve of the summit.
The attack was a clear message that Putin feels that if there’s no answer from NATO, then he can act with impunity, the Baltic country's top diplomat added.
“Therefore, we have to make sure that he doesn’t get away with this,” Landsbergis said, speaking at the Hudson Institute.
He noted that the war is taken seriously in Lithuania, which has increased its defense spending to just over 3 percent of economic output.
Lithuanians -- many of whom remember life under Moscow's rule before breaking free from the Soviet Union in 1991 to regain independence -- know what's at stake, he said, and recognize that the fight in the trenches of Kharkiv is a fight to defend Lithuania’s security as well.
Reflecting that reality, he said his country is ready to consider a proposal put forward earlier this year by French President Emmanuel Macron to provide military instructors and other noncombatant personnel to Kyiv.
Lithuania is “politically ready” to consider the steps that Macron laid out, he said, clarifying that the proposal was never about sending French troops but specialists who would handle policing, demining, and border patrol duties.
Landsbergis noted that this type of assistance was provided by Western countries before the war, and he believes it’s possible to plan for a return to this level of assistance.
It also would send a very strong signal to Putin that NATO doesn’t think he should be able to call the shots in Ukraine.
Your browser doesn’t support HTML5
Biden Says NATO Is 'Stronger Than Ever' As Alliance Marks 75th Anniversary
“If [Ukraine] wants this and if we have the means, it’s up to us to decide. It’s not [Putin] to set the rules,” Landsbergis said. “That’s the thinking, and we want to be part of it.”
Landsbergis said the proposal is still alive and he is waiting for a new coalition government to form in France following its elections on July 7. The leadership exists to drive the proposal once a coalition forms, he said.
Landsbergis said his expectations for the NATO summit are not high, however, and he believes the allies will not have the will to push the line beyond what was achieved last year when the summit was held in Lithuania.
The mood is different than it was when the leaders of the 32 NATO countries met in Vilnius, he said.
“A year ago, one might have had a sense that we are writing a new passage, at least for NATO and maybe for Ukraine. Now the expectations are really lower, meaning that the allies really want to stick to a consensus [and] avoid any political battle,” he said.
The communique for the summit is still being written, and the leaders are only looking to “bring a clean text” that everyone will be able to sign.
But it’s known that Putin’s aim is to test NATO, and the summit’s message must be one of deterrence, Landsbergis said, adding that it should say that NATO is united and strong and tell Putin that “you don’t want to test us.”