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LITHUANIA — RUSSIA IS CREATING AN ‘ATMOSPHERE OF TENSION’: Heads of state are expected to discuss sanctions against Russia next week, with Baltic leaders the most hawkish, despite their economies being the most affected. “We have to talk about the [1987] Nuclear Forces Treaty being violated,” Linas Linkevičius, Lithuania’s foreign minister, told Playbook, pointing out that the nuclear-capable Iskander missiles stationed last week in Kaliningrad by Russia have been modified to have a range of up to 700 kilometers. “They’ve deliberately done this to increase tension. It’s bullying, bluffing, intimidating … Reviewing or lifting sanctions would be a very big defeat … It’s the only leverage we are using to keep pressure on Russia. To talk about lifting sanctions would be premature.”

Persuading other EU ambassadors that this is the case falls to youthful Jovita Neliupšienė, Lithuania’s permanent representative to the EU and one-time adviser to President Dalia Grybauskaitė. “Of course they’re listening, because we have a bit more knowledge with dealing with Russia,” she told Playbook. Russia’s strategy “was not so obvious for other member states,” she said, “and it was complicated to explain this.”