Lithuanian president calls repeatedly to tighten sanctions after Zelensky’s address

VILNIUS – Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda has called repeatedly to tighten sanctions against Russia for unleashing a war in Ukraine.

“When Europe is discussing a possibility to leave room for tightening sanctions in the future, to leave some room for maneuver if Russia changes its behavior, such an approach is essentially wrong,” Nauseda told reporters after listening to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s address to the Seimas of Lithuania on Tuesday.

According to Nauseda, it is obvious after Zelensky’s address that “we have reached the level where it is just no longer possible to imagine greater horrors”.

“What even more horrible should happen for us to finally understand that we must fully press the accelerator pedal as it is the only way to achieve real results and stop Russia in this inhuman war,” Nauseda said.

According to him, countries lack political will to take even stronger measures against Russia.

“There is no need to look for excuses, arguments, justifications. It is just necessary to say – there is lack of political will and, to remedy that, I would just call to look at those pictures, which are particularly numerous, to look at them as people, not as politicians, and then to decide whether we should pursue savings of this or that or we should act and act now,” the Lithuanian president said.

Even the most stringent sanctions would not be able to bring Russia’s economy on its knees immediately as it would take time, Nauseda stated.

“That’s why I state repeatedly that we cannot drag our feet on this. It is necessary to take decisions today and hope that they generate adequate effect tomorrow and I hope that we will manage to convince those skeptics, who are not numerous, that, as I have said, it is necessary to press till the end,” he added.

The Ukrainian President addressed the Seimas of Lithuania remotely from Kyiv.