U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin assured the three Baltic nations Saturday that they would not be on their own if faced with security threats from Russia.
VILNIUS, LITHUANIA — U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin assured the three Baltic nations Saturday that they would not be on their own if faced with security threats from Russia, but he stopped short of promising a permanent deployment of American troops in the former Soviet republics.
U.S. Secretary for Defense Lloyd J. Austin III speaks during a media conference following his meeting with Lithuania's Minister of Foreign Affairs Gabrielius Landsbergis, acting as Minister of National Defense, at the Defense Ministry in Vilniusat the Defense Ministry in Vilnius, Lithuania, Saturday, Feb. 19, 2022.
In an interview with The Associated Press on Saturday, Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte noted that some European political leaders a few years ago spoke of NATO being “irrelevant.” “If the threat from Russia would have been taken seriously by the West, there would have been no Crimea and no Donbas. A lot in the future will depend on how strong the Western reaction will be if Russia invades Ukraine,” Simonyte said. “Bad peace is better than a good war. Diplomacy should be given a chance, but there will be no trust anymore and I do not see how it can be restored.”
Austin also met with Simonyte, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda and the defense ministers of Latvia and Estonia on his two-day visit to Lithuania.
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