On May 10-11 Vice Minister of National Defence Margiris Abukevičius had a visit to Paris where he met with Director General for International Relations and Strategy, of the French Ministry of the Armed Forces, Alice Guitton Tuesday and Alexandre Adam, Advisor Europe to President Emmanuel Macron Wednesday. The meetings focused on the topical aspects of the security situation, run-up to the NATO Summit in Madrid and support to Ukraine.
“The security situation pushes for fundamental changes in strengthening Alliance deterrence and defence in the eastern flank. We hope that decisions will be taken at the NATO Summit in Madrid to strengthen allied force presence in Lithuania and the region. Deployment of an allied brigade-sized unit and air defence capabilities would substantially reinforce the deterrence against Russia. We are ready to host more allied forces in Lithuania,” says M. Abukevičius.
“We continue weighing options of support to the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the basis of the requirement they constantly update us on. We have also arranged training for Ukrainian military in Lithuania which prioritizes training on using Western weaponry and equipment,” Vice Minister added.
M. Abukevičius also discussed mutual interests of Lithuania and France in cyber defence, such as, assistance to Ukraine, initiatives and legislation proposal to enhance the general level of EU cybersecurity maturity level and readiness of the EU for large-scale cyber-incidents, as well as of a coordinated response in such cases, while in Paris.
Other topics discussed were bilateral cooperation and multinational mission and operations in Africa.
