Lithuania's "pursuit of the United States and anti-Russia" has become increasingly radical

【Reporter Connection】

Guangming Daily correspondent in Helsinki Zhang Zhiyong

Recently, the baltic countries of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have continued to push NATO and the United States to strengthen their military presence and deterrence in the three countries to increase pressure on Russia. From June 29 to 30, NATO will hold a summit in Madrid, the capital of Spain, and it is expected to launch a new NATO "strategic concept" document for the next 10 years, in which the resolution of the three countries will become the focus of discussion at the summit.

The Old Town of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, is a city that maintains its medieval appearance and style, presenting a unique defense system surrounded by water on three sides. The old town was badly damaged during World War II and was rebuilt after the war. Photo by Zhang Zhiyong/Guangming Image

In order to increase the probability of the Decision of the Madrid Summit to increase troops, on June 18, the Lithuanian government deliberately blocked part of the land freight route in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad Oblast, which triggered a strong reaction from the Russian side. So far, the legislative government has been desperately trying to gamble on its own security and win the overall attention of the United States and NATO to its "absolute security".

Lead NATO to a large increase in troops

After the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the three countries became the most resolute supporters of NATO and the European Union for Ukraine, and also the countries that demanded the most severe sanctions against Russia. In late April, the three governments issued a joint statement saying that Russia had challenged transatlantic security, and that the three countries sought to promote the NATO Madrid summit to issue a new "strategic concept" document, so that NATO could further enhance the deployment of long-term deterrence and defense forces in the Polish Sea region, build a larger scale of land, sea and air forces, especially a permanent divisional combat readiness force in each of the three countries, and firmly support NATO's upgrade of the "air policing" mission in Eastern Europe to an "air defense" task.

The above-mentioned demands of the three Polish and Maritime countries partially meet the needs of NATO. NATO Secretary-General Stoltenberg said on June 16 that NATO will deploy more troops and weapons in Eastern Europe to strengthen defenses and achieve rapid reinforcements. NATO is working on plans to permanently station troops in Eastern Europe. Stoltenberg also said that the upcoming NATO Summit in Madrid at the end of June is a transformative summit that will introduce a new NATO "strategic concept" to address the challenges of China and Russia. U.S. Ambassador to NATO Smith also announced in early June that NATO would for the first time include a reference to China's "threat" in an important document. NATO publishes the so-called "strategic concept" every 10 years, and the document will provide a guiding framework for NATO for the next 10 years, last at the NATO Lisbon Summit in 2010.

On the basis of the deployment of four multinational battalion-level combat groups (1,000-man level) in Poland and Poland, since March this year, NATO has decided to build four additional multinational combat groups and deploy them in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia to ensure that NATO troops confront Russia in Eastern Europe, from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea.

Even so, the three Polish and Hai governments still do not have enough sense of security to continue to actively promote NATO to abandon the original "tripwire" strategy and achieve a permanent increase in troops in the Polish Sea region. The "tripwire" strategy is a strategic means of NATO's deterrence theory to avoid tensions between countries due to security concerns by deploying military forces smaller than potential adversaries to demonstrate the commitment of armed forces to future aggression. Since the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, NATO has continued to increase its troops to Eastern Europe, deploying more than 20,000 troops along the Belarusian border in addition to the Polish Sea region. On June 13, a U.S. Department of Defense spokesman said 8,500 U.S. troops were already in a state of high readiness and would be rapidly deployed to Eastern Europe and the Polish Sea once nato's rapid reaction force was activated. Analysts here believe that NATO is likely to increase its troops in relevant countries, especially in the Polish-Hai countries, and deploy brigade-level combat groups equipped with heavy weapons, with a number of 3,000 to 4,000 people.

Anti-Russian pro-American radical adventures

Since the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the Lithuanian government has closely followed the pace of the United States, actively encouraged sanctions against Russia, and "personally practiced" the first EU member state to completely cut off Russia's energy imports, including oil, gas and electricity trade. In return, NATO could agree at the Madrid summit to upgrade battalion-sized multinational combat groups in countries such as Lithuania to brigade size and to move a brigade-level command from Germany to Lili. Although there is still a great distance from the goals and expectations of Lithuania's division-level multinational combat groups, this has encouraged or inspired the legislative government to make more quick gains and radical adventures on the road of "anti-Russian and pro-American".

Recently, high-level meetings between the two countries have been frequent. In early May, Defense Secretary AnussosKas said after meeting with the U.S. Secretary of Defense and the Three Services That "the presence of U.S. and NATO military forces is key to security and defense in the Baltic Sea region, and striving for a permanent U.S. military station in Lithuania that has been upgraded from battalion to brigade is our top priority in the future."

After meeting with the U.S. delegation, Cassius, chairman of the National Assembly's National Security and Defense Committee, said that NATO's response to the Russian military threat and its military presence in Lithuania and other countries are the basis for establishing NATO's eastern front, and lithuania must strive to promote NATO's military presence and strengthen the strength of the US military in Europe, especially in the deployment of US army brigade-level troops. Latvian Foreign Minister Linkvić also recently said that Russia poses an existential threat to transatlantic security, and the new "strategic concept" of NATO in the future should emphasize that NATO's core mission is collective security. "Every Baltic state needs the largest permanent presence of NATO forces, including air defense and missile defense systems and other critical capabilities," he argued.

"Blocking" Russian enclaves is risky

In order to further exacerbate tensions and enable NATO to strengthen its military presence within its territory, Lithuania began blocking part of the land freight routes in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad on June 18, cutting off about 50 percent of the cargo traffic into Kaliningrad, including coal, metals, building materials and advanced technology.

In this regard, the Russian side reacted fiercely. The Russian Foreign Ministry believes that Lithuania's blockade is an overt "hostile act", which violates the relevant legal and political obligations of the European Union and leads to an escalation of tensions, and demands that Lithuania immediately lift these restrictions, otherwise the Russian side will take retaliatory measures. The solemn statement issued by a number of heavyweight officials on the Russian side is actually tantamount to sending a war signal to Lithuania, believing that the laws guaranteeing the Lithuanian border will be invalid and that it is necessary for Russia to open a land route to Kaliningrad.

In the face of the fierce reaction of the Russian side, the US government quickly came out to "cheer up" Li. The US spokesperson said on the 21st that the United States welcomes Lithuania and other countries to take unprecedented economic measures against Russia, the United States supports Lithuania, and the United States remains firm in its collective defense commitment to NATO countries.

With the endorsement of the United States, the legislature believes that Russia does not currently have sufficient resources to act outside Ukraine. Foreign Minister Landsbergis first argued that Li was only implementing the sanctions imposed by the European Union, consulting with the European Commission and acting in accordance with its guidelines; Later, on the 22nd, it was declared that there was no need to be surprised by the Russian threat, which was part of Russia's "information war".

However, the radical actions of the government have filled the country with doubts and uneasiness. Former Prime Minister Skvernellis publicly questioned for two consecutive days whether the blockade of Kaliningrad complied with the requirements and spirit of the EU sanctions agreement against Russia, believing that this was nothing more than a "national performance" of the current government. Gezauskas, a representative of the Farmers and Greens Coalition, also criticized the current government's actions for lack of purpose and preparedness to deal with risks. Labor Mps deputies de Vilas fiercely criticized Prime Minister Simonet in person on the 23rd, stressing that the latter had the responsibility to ensure peace in Lithuania, rather than inciting war.

At present, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict is standing at a new crossroads. NATO countries' military support for Ukraine is gradually bottoming out, conflicts and sanctions have brought about high oil and gas and food prices, and economic recessions and global economic crises are frequent warnings, which are torturing the nerves of the United States and Western countries. At this time, Lithuania's "blockade" of Kaliningrad, whether it is to cater to the US military industry interest groups and the concerns of Bo, or to further intensify the situation, promote the permanent stationing of US troops, and "take over" its national defense and security, will pose a new major threat to the already fragile global security.

Lithuania has almost no strategic depth, and if a conflict with Russia really occurs, no one can say whether the United States and other NATO countries will open fire with Russia in an all-round way for a war with no chance of victory. Blindly pursuing so-called "absolute security" and not hesitating to tie himself to the head of NATO's chariot against Russia may eventually bring far-reaching harm to the country and the nation.

(Guangming Daily Helsinki, June 23)

Guangming Daily (2022.06.24 12th edition)

Source: Guangming Network - Guangming Daily