Lithuanian president calls for common approach in context of Arctic, Baltic Sea security

VILNIUS – A “common approach” on European security issues is needed, whether the discussion concerns security in the Arctic or in the Baltic Sea, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda has said.

“It is important to make sure that a common approach is applied to the issues of security, no matter if we are talking about the Arctic or we talk about the Baltic Sea. What’s important is that Russia's behavior is aggressive. We see the growing number of incidents across Europe, and there is no reason to expect that something will change in coming months,” the Lithuanian leader told reporters at the European Arctic Summit hosted by Finland in Lapland.

He also pointed out that China’s increasingly active presence in the Arctic is influencing the situation in the region.

“What is also important, we have to see that China’s presence in the Arctic region is increasing. The footprint is here. So far, it's rather a research or a scientific footprint, but it might be followed by military activities or military footprint in the region,” he stressed.

“The European Union must implement the Arctic policy formulated in 2021, taking into account new geopolitical realities which are around us, taking into account the threats around us. For me, it's very important to achieve that the European Union and NATO are cooperating – not duplicating each other, but complementing each other and increasing the footprint of NATO within the EU,” Nauseda said.

According to the Lithuanian leader, “Europe has to do its part by strengthening economic resilience and improving connectivity, but NATO also has to take the chance to increase its military presence, military deployment in this region”.

“And I think this is, first of all, very important, looking from the perspective of deterrence. For me, deterrence is the main factor. If we are credible, if we are active, if we respond, then we can expect that we will have this sufficient level of deterrence for Russia not to test our ability to defend ourselves,” Nauseda noted.

“This (Russia’s provocations) is taking place not only in the Baltic states or Poland. It's taking place in Germany and other countries. And for me, it's a clear sign that this time Russia is challenging all of us. We should not talk about concrete geographic regions, because Russia's goal is much more ambitious: to test the rule of law, to test our style of life, to test the democracy. And I think they will put additional efforts to do it. So, it would be naive to expect that the Arctic will be free of malign activities on Russia's side,” he emphasized.

The summit in Rovaniemi, attended by heads of state and government from EU member states, is discussing the growing importance of the Arctic region to European security.

On Tuesday, Nauseda is scheduled to meet with Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo and visit the Patria armored vehicle production facility.