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Lithuania's prime minister comments on Russian nuclear threat · THE DAILY BRIEF

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Lithuania, one of the three Baltic states, is under threat
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: from Russia. Drone attacks, misinformation and hybrid warfare are almost
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: routine in the country. Recently, a state-controlled news agency reported
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: in Russia that an attack on Lithuania might be imminent,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: even with the use of tactical nuclear weapons. What is
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: the reaction to Lithuania to this threat? I'm with the
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  Speaker 1: Prime Minister of Lithuania, Mindaugas Sinkevicius, and I want to
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  Speaker 1: talk with him about his assessment.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: So, Mr.
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  Speaker 1: Prime Minister, RIA Novosti, the Russian agency, issued a report
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  Speaker 1: that Russia is maybe planning an imminent attack, even using
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  Speaker 1: tactical nuclear weapons. The report was withdrawn, and the Russian leader,
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: President Putin said, no, no, there are no plans to
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  Speaker 1: attack Lithuania right now. Do you believe that?
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  Speaker 3: Well, it's difficult to believe Kremlin's leaders, including Russia's President Putin,
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: because I think there was a time when he was
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  Speaker 3: saying that they will not invade Ukraine. But now we
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: have more than four years of ongoing war and we
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  Speaker 3: can't see the end of it. So you can never
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  Speaker 3: predict what's on their thought and how we will actually proceed.
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  Speaker 3: They're posing a risk to Lithuania and not just Lithuania alone,
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  Speaker 3: but to the Baltics and to the middle of Europe
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  Speaker 3: as well. We can see incidents, drones flying in. We
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  Speaker 3: can see also situation in Leipzig airport. I think that there,
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  Speaker 3: you know, maybe sometimes talking one thing but acting very
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  Speaker 3: much differently.
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  Speaker 1: The Lithuanian parliament agreed a second time to open up
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  Speaker 1: the country for the possible deployment of nuclear weapons on
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  Speaker 1: your territory. Do you think Russia sees that as a
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  Speaker 1: threat or what's the answer?
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  Speaker 3: I think for sure they're not happy with our parliament decision.
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  Speaker 3: To explain it briefly, we have a clause or article
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  Speaker 3: in the constitution claiming that in Lithuania's territory we can't
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: have mass destruction weapons including atomic bombs of any sort.
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  Speaker 3: But now we're removing this article. We're not stating that
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  Speaker 3: we will have those weapons. Most probably we're not the
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  Speaker 3: country to produce or buy or have it.
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  Speaker 2: But we're just removing that, just Talking in simple.
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  Speaker 3: Words, that means if a French submarine carrying an atomic
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  Speaker 3: weapon comes to the Baltic port, it's okay, it's allowed.
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  Speaker 2: But because currently it's not allowed.
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  Speaker 3: If some plane carrying an atomic weapon is flying over
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  Speaker 3: the space of Lithuania, it will be okay, because now
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  Speaker 3: it's not. And we can maybe join some, I don't know, umbrella,
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  Speaker 3: nuclear umbrella, I don't know. But it's not something that
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  Speaker 3: we will initiate. We will just expand our kind of
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  Speaker 3: possibilities of having our allies with such instruments or weapons.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: However, you are actively lobbying the Americans, the United States,
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  Speaker 1: to have a permanent installation in Lithuania to deploy troops permanently,
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  Speaker 1: would that also include nuclear weapons?
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  Speaker 3: No, we're not thinking about that at all. Of course,
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  Speaker 3: we're lobbying for permanent deployment of United States troops. I
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  Speaker 3: think that the more troops of international origin we have,
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  Speaker 3: the safer we feel. It's not for the sake of
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: attacking something. I think it's for the sake of deterrence,
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  Speaker 3: for the sake of our security, for the sake of
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  Speaker 3: military training in terms of NATO and cooperation against different
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  Speaker 3: combat forces.
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  Speaker 2: And it's a.
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  Speaker 3: Useful thing, but we're not talking, well, thinking of permanent
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  Speaker 3: deployment of the We're not thinking about nuclear weapons.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: When we look at the map, we see that in
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  Speaker 1: the east there's Belarus, a Russian ally, and in the
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  Speaker 1: west there's the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, so Russia itself,
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  Speaker 1: and in the middle is the so-called Suwalki Gap, only
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: a small stretch of land. How threatened is Lithuania by
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  Speaker 1: this geographical location?
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  Speaker 3: Well, to some extent, sometimes I hear calling this Sovalki
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  Speaker 3: corridor a heel is heel or a bottleneck. It's not
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  Speaker 3: something that narrow. It's actually, I think, 60 kilometers wide.
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  Speaker 3: And to some extent, it raises issues for the maneuvering
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  Speaker 3: and logistics in worst-case scenarios. But at the same time,
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  Speaker 3: I think that what's worth noticing is that we recently
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  Speaker 3: opened and established Kap Chamestis military training area and facilities.
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  Speaker 3: We'll be having military, not permanently, but training facilities there
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  Speaker 3: next to the Sovalki corridors. I mean, it's not a
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  Speaker 3: trap or a gap that brings some additional risks to Lithuania.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: Since 2004, Lithuania is a member of NATO, the North
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  Speaker 1: Atlantic Alliance, and also a member of the European Union.
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  Speaker 1: Do you think NATO would be capable to defend Lithuania
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  Speaker 1: in case there would be actually an attack by Russia?
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  Speaker 3: I think that I'm absolutely positive that we will receive
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  Speaker 3: NATO allies' help in case there is, I don't know, attacked,
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  Speaker 3: if Lithuania is attacked. If we wouldn't believe that, we
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  Speaker 3: wouldn't be in the alliance. But of course, I think
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  Speaker 3: that there are new sorts of threats, hybrid threats, and
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  Speaker 3: they are continuous. And at the same time, we're not
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  Speaker 3: just purely alone talking about the risks for Lithuania. I
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  Speaker 3: think that we should all understand that if Lithuania is
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  Speaker 3: somehow attacked, that's an attack against Europe, against NATO, And
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  Speaker 3: it's not just a question about just defending Lithuania alone.
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  Speaker 3: We are ready also to help other NATO allies, is
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  Speaker 3: it Latvia, Estonia, Poland, or Finland, in case of Article
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  Speaker 3: 5 is in action.
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  Speaker 2: So I think that.
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  Speaker 3: There is risks, but there is no lack of.
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  Speaker 3: Kind of not believing NATO anymore. We believe we're very
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  Speaker 3: strong believers of NATO and the European Union. And we
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  Speaker 3: are very much doing our homework ourselves, having good allies
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  Speaker 3: with German colleagues and the United States.
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  Speaker 2: And the more allies we have, the safer we feel.
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  Speaker 1: Germany is currently building a new brigade, a permanent brigade
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  Speaker 1: in Lithuania, 4,820. troops by 2028. Do you think this
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  Speaker 1: is enough support or do you need more?
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  Speaker 3: We're happy and thankful for the government of Germany that
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  Speaker 3: is so supportive and we will have it by the
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  Speaker 3: end of 2027. The brigade will be on Lithuanian soil.
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  Speaker 3: Lithuania is doing the best conditions for the brigade to come.
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  Speaker 3: and it will be a success story, not just purely
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  Speaker 3: for Lithuania alone, but for Germany as well. And I
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  Speaker 3: think it will be a good example for the rest
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  Speaker 3: of Europe and NATO, how can we cooperate our forces
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  Speaker 3: for deterrence and security that are of most importance, not
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  Speaker 3: just for Lithuania alone, but for wider Europe.
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  Speaker 2: So we're happy.
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  Speaker 3: With the decisions made, and what's more important is that
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  Speaker 3: those decisions are being implemented and on time.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: One last question. Do you think Germany will remain a
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: steadfast ally, given the fact that the far-right AFD is
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: now leading in the polls in Germany and the AFD says,
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: let's stop the support for Ukraine, let's talk to Russia?
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  Speaker 1: Does that vary you?
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  Speaker 3: Well, to some extent it worries me, but there are
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  Speaker 3: German citizens that make their political decisions during the voting
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  Speaker 3: period and.
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: They elect their political representatives.
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  Speaker 3: I hope that German leadership will remain and we will
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: cooperate despite the changes in the political arena. Of course,
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: there might be some risks, we do understand, but we
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: can't live from election to election and count on just
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: purely leader to leader or participation. to party, coalition to coalition,
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  Speaker 3: established relationship. I think that despite what are the changes
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: in political arena in Lithuania or in Germany, if any,
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  Speaker 3: I think the collaboration and the unity and our partnership
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  Speaker 3: kind of cooperation will remain.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: Mr. Prime Minister, thank you very much for the interview.
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: Thank you very much.