“A long-term military U.S. presence in Lithuania and the Baltic region is still one of the key elements of deterrence. Our interest is to ensure the necessary support for sustained U.S. exercises and training in Lithuania,” said Vice Minister of National Defence Margiris Abukevičius meeting with delegation of security experts and shapers of the Atlantic Council, an influential U.S. think-tank. The U.S. guests were visiting Lithuania last week on a trip to the Baltic region to learn more about the security situation here.
The key focus of the visit was to present the security situation in the wake of the Russian aggression against Ukraine, to demonstrate the need for capability development in the Lithuanian Armed Forces and to discuss the bilateral defence inanities between Lithuania and the U.S. that improve Lithuania’s security directly. The delegation met with the Defence Policy Director, representatives of the Defence Staff, visited the Parliament and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, made a trip to Rukla and Pabradė to meet with the German-led NATO enhanced Forward Presence Battle Group and the U.S. battalion’s fifth rotation, respectively.
The Atlantic Council is an influential U.S. analytical centre that has contacts with both major U.S. political parties and a wide circle of security and defence experts and fellows worldwide. Its particular focus is the security in Northern-Eastern Europe. The gust delegation included top level and highly experience experts of different subject-matter qualified to evaluate the NATO deterrence steps, analyze the bilateral Lithuania-U.S. cooperation and analyze more options for a better regional security.
The visit was conducted as part of the joint “Comprehensive Defence and Deterrence Capability Strengthening in Northern Eastern Europe” project of the Atlantic Council and the Ministry of National Defence. The project aims to strengthen the Lithuanian-U.S. defence cooperation through different bilateral and regional initiatives for effectively increasing national and regional defence capabilities and improving readiness for crises and assistance to Lithuania’s security in the long-term.
