Lithuania’s Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene has said that, despite the nation’s full commitment to NATO, it is already preparing for the worst-case scenario. “You never know what can happen” she told “Welt am Sonntag”, adding that the “absolute top priority” must be to strengthen the EU.
In light of potential changes to U.S. security guarantees, Lithuania is focusing on deterrence and self‑reliance. “I hope we can keep U.S. forces in Lithuania” Ruginiene said. “We believe in a strong NATO alliance”. At the same time she emphasized that Lithuania is thinking through alternative scenarios: “We must work hard to keep NATO strong, but we also have to work hard to strengthen the EU”. Europe must be able to shoulder responsibility should Washington alter its role.
Specifically, Lithuania is planning for a situation where collective defense does not intervene immediately. “Even though we have a strong alliance and Article 5 applies, we know that for a short time we will be on our own” she explained. In that interim, Lithuania must stabilise the situation “until our partners arrive”. The presence of European troops, she added, is therefore central: “If someone attacks our country, they are not attacking Lithuania alone but the EU”.
Ruginiene also referred to a number of hybrid threats coming from Belarus and Russia, including targeted incursions into Lithuanian airspace. “We register different attacks. Currently, for example, balloons are penetrating our airspace from Belarus” she said. She described them as a “mix of smuggling – for instance cigarettes being sent our way – and a hybrid attack”. Hybrid attacks and provocations, she said, pose the greatest danger. “In principle we treat all threats from Belarus or Russia as matters of national defence” she concluded.