“The coronavirus crises has not only decreased security threats in Europe but also created conditions for them to grow. The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent emergency is used for malignant spread of disinformation and cyber-attacks aimed at discrediting countries ‘efforts to control the spread of the virus,” Minister of National Defence Raimundas Karoblis said at the European Union Defence Ministers’ teleconference meeting on April 6. The EU Defence Ministers discussed the efforts of their countries ‘armed forces to assist civilian authorities to respond to the COVID-19 crisis.
“We cannot let this crisis harm the critical long-term defence objectives of our countries. Even if a crisis of such scope develops, we have to adapt to the challenges it brings within the shortest time possible and to apply every measure to ensure protection of armed capabilities, while consistently maintaining the armed forces’ readiness and transatlantic military cooperation to prevent conventional threats,” Minister underscored.
R. Karoblis also thanked Defence Ministers of the countries that currently have military personnel training in Lithuania for the constructive cooperation in responding swiftly and effectively to COVID-19 diagnoses to allied troops deployed in Lithuania.
The EU Defence Ministers also discussed international and European defence cooperation mechanisms that could be used more efficiently to coordinate assistance at the EU scale. They also took stock of the situation in the areas of missions and operations led by the EU with the focus on the protection of health of deployed personnel in the conditions of the pandemic. “The EU operations have to be continued, and we have to take care of the health protection and proper preparedness of the personnel to handle the pandemic situation in the areas of operations,” Minister of National Defence said.
Photo credits: Alfredas Pliadis/MoD
