News

On 31 March, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius met with the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. The conversation took place during the official dinner that was organised for Foreign Ministers attending the 2016 Nuclear Security Summit.

On the same day, Lithuania’s Foreign Minister also met with the United States Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken, the State Department’s Coordinator for Sanctions Policy Daniel Fried, and the Assistant Administrator for Europe and Eurasia at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Thomas Melia.

Linkevičius thanked Blinken for the U.S. decision to increase the number of the U.S. troops and armaments in the region.

“This is a consecutive step towards an actual implementation of the U.S. commitment to contribute to security in our region,” said Lithuania’s Foreign Minister.

In the conversation, Linkevičius and Blinken discussed the upcoming NATO Summit in Warsaw, measures to strengthen NATO’s collective defence and deterrence measures in response to Russia’s actions as well as their consequences for a strategic environment. A lot of attention was dedicated to the issue of Ukraine, the implementation of the Minsk accords, the international coalition against terrorism, and challenges posed by the new hybrid threats.

In a meeting with the U.S. State Department’s Coordinator for Sanctions Policy Fried, Lithuania’s Foreign Minister noted that the international community must extend sanctions against the Kremlin’s aggressive policies until Russia fully implemented the Minsk accords.

In a meeting with USAID’s leadership, Lithuania’s Foreign Minister called for joint efforts to find ways to offset propaganda on which Russia had recently focused much attention and finances. Melia stressed that Lithuania’s experience was useful to Eastern European countries and called on Linkevičius to look for ways together to implement projects to strengthen civil society and democracy in the Eastern Partnership countries.

In the meetings, the U.S. officials stressed that during the period of its independence Lithuania had achieved considerable progress, which was very useful for the Eastern Partnership countries and called on Lithuania to continue to actively share its experiences.

From 31 March to 1 April, Lithuania’s Foreign Minister is attending the 2016 Nuclear Security Summit, as part of the delegation led by the President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė.

Photos: Lithuania’s Foreign Minister with Blinken and Kerry.