On February 16-17 Vice Minister of National Defence Margiris Abukevičius is in Brussels in attendance at the NATO Defence Ministers meeting that takes stock of the deteriorating security situation as a result of the aggressive Russian activity. The allies discuss the concentration of Russian military capabilities near Ukraine and in Belarus and take decisions on enhancement of NATO deterrence measures in the eastern part of the Alliance.
“Russia presents a serious threat to the security and stability in the region. The Russian buildup of forces near the Ukrainian borders and in Belarus, as well as large-scale military drills, are extremely concerning. NATO needs to retain unity and solidarity and to view the Russian aggression in the wider context of regional security. We are grateful to the Allies for reinforcement deployments, especially to Germany, Norway, Denmark, U.S. and the United Kingdom,” says Vice Minister M. Abukevičius on the NATO decisions regarding the situation in Ukraine.
Defence Ministers also addressed the challenges relating to the NATO defence funding. M. Abukevičius underscored that Lithuania was a strong supporter of the increase of the overall NATO defence spending. Lithuania maintains the 2% of GDP defence spending bar and moves towards 2.5% of GDP in order to strengthen the national defence capabilities and reach the NATO capability targets.
“Lithuania meets the 2% of GDP defence spending commitment, we have to raise this bar even higher though, so that we are able to resist the existential threats facing the European security. We support the need for a common defence spending for collective defence that covers increased readiness and stronger capabilities,” says Vice Minister.
NATO Defence Ministers are also discussing the next NATO Strategic Concept. M. Abukevičius underscores that Lithuania’s interests concerning the new Strategic Concept are not only relevant attention to collective defence but also a stern assessment of the threat posed to the Alliance by Russia. According to Vice Minister, Russia has to be named as a long-term threat to the Alliance security.
The NATO Defence Ministerial takes place in Brussels on February 16-17. Vice Minister M. Abukevičius also has scheduled bilateral meetings with Defence Ministers of Germany, Georgia and Italy on the margins, and in the B9 format – with Minister of the Armed Forces of France.
Photo credits: NATO
