On November 19 the new Military, Air Force and Naval Attaché of the Russian Federation, Colonel Oleg Davletzjanov was accredited to the Republic of Lithuania. At the ceremony Head of the International Relations and Operations Group Karolis Aleksa underscored that Lithuania and Russia had differing positions concerning security and defence issues which made it important to foster mutual trust and transparency. He also stressed that multilateral formats that both, Lithuania and Russia were part of, were important platforms for developing mutual trust and transparency.
At the moment Lithuania is not conducting any form of practical cooperation with Russia, neither does NATO. It has been suspended in response to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. In spring 2014 Russia unilaterally terminated additional security and confidence-building measures that had been put in place by a bilateral agreement between Lithuania and Russia.
Lithuania has been posting Defence Attachés (based in Moscow) to Russia since 1995, Russia has been delegating military representatives to Lithuania (based in Vilnius) since 1994.
Photo credit: G. Maksimovicz-Alkema /MoD
