Displaying items by tag: Lithuania

Lithuania has blamed Moscow for a brutal hammer attack on Leonid Volkov, a close aide to the late Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, outside his home in Vilnius. Volkov sustained injuries, including a broken arm, in the assault. The Lithuanian president has condemned the attack as a planned provocation, challenging Vladimir Putin's regime. Lithuanian authorities are intensively investigating the incident, attributing it to Moscow's efforts to influence the upcoming presidential election. Volkov has vowed to continue the opposition's struggle against Putin despite the attack. This assault marks the latest in a series of threats and violence against Navalny's allies living abroad, following his recent death in custody. His widow, Yulia Navalnaya, has urged the West not to recognise Russia's upcoming presidential election results, denouncing Putin as a usurper and murderer.

Freedom has brought good progress in Lithuania. Doors for the gospel remain open. However, freedom has also brought dangers like greed for material goods, selfish pleasure-seeking, and a belief that traditional morals have no value. Substance abuse, suicide, and trafficking of women for prostitution all damage the social foundations. Spiritual transformation must accompany economic growth. Lithuania was the last European nation to be Christianised.

Lithuanian president Gitanas Nausėda said that while it will not get everything it's hoping for, Ukraine will not be disappointed at the NATO summit on July 11-12. ‘I believe we will find wording that will not disappoint Ukrainians and will state more than we are used to saying’, he said. He added that he could not say whether Ukraine will receive an invitation to join NATO after the war, as dialogue on the subject is ongoing. He also said that individual states will present their own aid packages for Ukraine at the summit.

Lithuania’s foreign minister Gabriel Landsbergis has warned that reducing NATO troop numbers in the region could worsen the security situation. Prompted by fears of a Russian invasion sparked by 100,000 troops near the Ukrainian border, he said the EU needed to be ‘more involved’ and offer solutions to the crisis. He also called on the EU to review its sanctions against Russia and Belarus to close loopholes and make sure they still had teeth. Lithuania was in ‘constant contact’ with the US during its talks with Russia, and the US had offered a high level of transparency over the negotiations, which did not involve the EU. There is speculation that the US could reduce troops in return for a similar drop in Russian military numbers on the Ukraine border. But Mr Landsbergis warned against any moves to reduce NATO troop numbers in the region. ‘There is this sense of rebuilding the Soviet Union 2.0,’ he said, pointing to Russian troops in Georgia, parts of Ukraine, Moldova, Kazakhstan and Belarus.

Latvia has declared a state of emergency at its Belarus border, authorising border guards, armed forces and police to use physical force to return migrants to the country from which they came. Latvia, like neighbouring Lithuania, has faced an influx of mostly Iraqi migrants in the past few months from Belarus. Their borders are also the EU's external border. The state of emergency will run until 10 November and will enable the armed forces and the state police to assist the border guards. Lithuania is also erecting a four-metre metal fence topped with razor wire on its Belarus border, saying it is impossible to protect their borders. Tensions have been strained between Belarus and European nations since a disputed election last year returned President Alexander Lukashenko to power despite mass protests against his regime.

Lithuania’s foreign minister has said that Russia represents the biggest obstacle to the peace process in Ukraine, as it represents itself misleadingly as a ‘neutral party’ in the conflict while actively participating. Ukrainian armed forces have fought Russia-backed separatists in Ukraine since 2014 and killed over 13,000 people. Moscow denies providing weapons, training and personnel to support the separatists, but independent observers, journalists and official monitors have substantial evidence to the contrary. Lithuania, with an ethnic Ukrainian population of 44,000 people, has sent military equipment to back Kyiv’s efforts in the war, and hosts 500 American soldiers to bolster NATO's eastern flank near Russia's borders.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius says Russia represents the biggest obstacle to the peace process in Ukraine, as it misleadingly represents itself as a “neutral party” in the conflict.  “Perhaps the greatest obstacle in this [Ukrainian peace] process is that Russia is positioning itself as a neutral party while it is an active participant of the conflict, although officially they are not being treated as such,” Linkevicius said on November 5 in an interview in Prague with Current Time TV, the Russian-language network run by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA.

Linkevicius said Moscow tells separatists in Ukraine that "you need to reach agreement, and we will help, while exactly the opposite is happening on the ground.”  Ukrainian armed forces have been fighting Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine in a conflict that has killed more than 13,000 people since April 2014.

Moscow has repeatedly denied that it has provided weapons, training, and personnel to support the separatists. However, independent observers, journalists, and official monitors, have gathered a substantial body of evidence to the contrary.

NATO and European Union member Lithuania, which has an ethnic Ukrainian population of some 44,000 people, has expressed strong support for Ukraine in its battle against Russia and has sent military equipment to back Kyiv’s efforts in the war.

Four-party talks -- with Ukraine, Russia, France, and Germany, and known as the Normandy format -- have sought to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

"These Normandy [format] talks and a search for a compromise are on everyone's lips. I understand that it is very difficult to do all that, but I felt current [Ukrainian] President [Volodymyr Zelenskiy's] sincere intention to resolve this issue. It is hard to say, though, how successful he will be,” Linkevicius said.

Washington Ally

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystayko on November 1 said the timing of a four-way summit aimed at resolving the conflict depends upon Russia.  Prystayko's statement came after he voiced hope on October 29 that Zelenskiy would meet his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, soon for peace talks under the Normandy format.

Putin on October 30 said he was ready to have a meeting with the leaders of Ukraine, France, and Germany. But he added that such a meeting "needs to be well prepared and produce specific results that will help the settlement."

Lithuania remains a close ally of Washington and is temporarily hosting some 500 U.S. soldiers in the Baltic nation to help bolster NATO's eastern flank near Russia's borders.   Russia has accused NATO of destabilizing Europe by moving troops closer to its borders.

More at: https://www.rferl.org/a/lithuanian-fm-calls-russia-biggest-obstacle-to-ukraine-peace-settlement/30254919.html

Pray: for a resolution to this long-running dispute to be achieved diplomatically.
Pray: for an end to the bloodshed.
Pray: for wisdom, honesty and openness to compromise - for those involved in the summits and negotiations.
Pray: that Russia will be transparent in accounting for its involvement in the conflict.

Lithuania has been investing in defence, introducing conscription, and rebuilding a standing army in preparation for the worst.  It may have started well before the prospect of a Donald Trump presidency, but has now become a matter of urgency, with the country preparing to erect a six-foot razor-wired fence between them and Russia.  The country fears Russian aggression, two years after Putin invaded Ukraine and annexed Crimea.  With a US president who has sowed doubt in the country's NATO commitments, Lithuanians are concerned that they could see an echoing of the events of January 1991 when, in the course of three days, the Soviet Union tried to take back control of the country just one year after it declared independence.  Meanwhile, across the border, President Putin has reinforced the garrison and sent missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.  In response, Lithuania will build its fence.  In 2002, President George Bush said: "Anyone who would choose Lithuania as an enemy has also made an enemy of the United States of America," but Lithuanians are unsure if that will remain true after Donald Trump.  See also: http://prayercast.com/lithuania.html