Lithuania in the News
24th July 2016
Lithuania Welcomes Important NATO Security Decisions
At the NATO Summit. Front row (L-R): President Dalia Grybauskaitë, NATO Summit
host Poland’s President Andrzej Duda, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg,
US President Barrack Obama. Photo courtesy lrp.lt, by Robertas Dačkus.
“We can call this day historic for the security of Lithuania” declared Lithuania’s President Dalia Grybauskaitë after the NATO summit in Warsaw, Poland, July 8-9 2016. This historic day came after intense lobbying over recent years by Lithuania for NATO to take the threat from Russia seriously.
The NATO summit concluded that Russia is the main threat to NATO members on the eastern Baltic seaboard and in the Black Sea region and took concrete steps to counter this threat. Among the measures agreed to was the permanent deployment battalion-size NATO troops in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland. This was one, among a whole range of concrete decisions, that NATO took in response to Russia’s aggressive actions.
No wonder Lithuania’s leaders were pleased. President Grybauskaitë continued:
“From today, our people can really feel calmer and more secure as a whole arsenal of specific military measures to deter threats and ensure peace has been approved. We will be able to use full allied assistance and reinforcements if necessary. For the first time since we joined NATO we have guaranteed sophisticated, long-term military capabilities”.

Further information:
https://www.lrp.lt/en/press-centre/press-releases/nato-summit-a-historic-day-for-the-security-of-lithuania-and-the-baltic-region/25642