News

On 17 March in Vilnius, the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Andrius Krivas and other diplomats of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania met with experts of one of the most influential American think tanks – the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

The CSIS delegation, headed by the former Deputy Director of the Private Office of the NATO Secretary General and official of the U.S. Department of State Jeffrey Rathke, discussed relevant issues related to Lithuania’s security challenges, security measures and allied support in this sphere. The meeting of Lithuanian diplomats and U.S. experts in security policy focused on the strengthening of NATO’s collective defence, deterrence measures in response to Russia’s actions and their impact on strategic environment. The participants dedicated a lot of attention to assurance measures and NATO’s readiness to respond swiftly to potential crises.

Krivas thanked the U.S. for its leadership in the implementation of decisions taken in Wales and emphasized the need to switch from security measures to deterrence measures, which would effectively stop potential aggressors’ attempts to infringe on security of the Baltic States or other NATO allies. Lithuania’s Foreign Vice-Minister noted that in a changed security environment it was important to build not only military defence, but also energy, cyber security, and strategic communications capacities.

CSIS is drafting a few studies on our regional security, deterrence measures, the need and prospects for a presence of the U.S. and other allied forces and munitions in the region. During the meeting, the CSIS experts presented the first part of their study on the need of the U.S. military presence in Europe.

The delegation of the U.S. think tank, which is headquartered in Washington, D.C., is visiting Lithuania on 16-18 March. The CSIS experts will also meet with officials of the Ministry of National Defence and the Office of the President of Lithuania. They will participate in a round table discussion with Lithuanian security and defence experts, journalists, members of academic community, and representatives of non-governmental organizations. The experts have also visited Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Latvia and Estonia.