Vilnius hosts NATO plenary session, leaders of Finnish, Swedish Parliaments to arrive

VILNIUS – The Seimas of Lithuania is on Monday hosting a plenary session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly to discuss the ongoing war in Ukraine and threats posed by Russia.

Speakers of the Finnish and Swedish parliaments, Matti Vanhanen and Andreas Norlen, are scheduled to make addresses. The two countries have recently applied to join NATO.

Audronius Azubalis, chairman of the Lithuanian Seimas delegation to the NATO PA, says decisions taken by lawmakers of NATO countries during this session will serve as a roadmap for the heads of state at the upcoming NATO summit in Madrid in June.

"I hope that during this session we will unanimously adopt the declaration "Together with Ukraine" to express our full political and military support for Ukraine, our genuine determination to support Ukraine until victory, without excluding any of our possible means of assistance," Azubalis said.

The politician points out that NATO's new Strategic Concept is currently under consideration and should include ways to bolster NATO's eastern flank.

The assembly was to be held in Kyiv, but due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the event had to be urgently moved to a safer location, and the Lithuanian Seimas proposed to hold it in Vilnius.

Speakers at the NATO PA Plenary Session will include President of the Assembly Gerald E. Connolly, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, Speaker of the Lithuanian Seimas Viktorija Cmilyte-Nielsen, NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoana, and a representative of Ukraine.

The last NATO PA Spring Session was held in Lithuania in 2014.