„Attention should be paid to today’s annual speech by the President of the European Commission (…), (…) which talks about things like Article Four of the European Union, the European Security Council (…). This is becoming a matter of a unified response from all of Europe and allows us to expect additional financial instruments to ensure the security of the external border of the European Union,“ G. Nausėda said on LRT’s program „Dienos tema“ on Wednesday.
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EC President Ursula von der Leyen gave a speech in Strasbourg on Wednesday proposing the establishment of a European Security Council, which would include countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada, Norway, and Ukraine.
She spoke this way as Europe has been facing a hybrid attack campaign by Moscow in recent years, aimed at undermining support for Ukraine.
In turn, G. Nausėda emphasized that the President also mentioned the Russian drone shot down in Lithuania earlier this week.
„All of this (drone incidents – BNS) is visible, assessed, and I hope that all of this will soon become real capabilities we are talking about. First of all – air defense capabilities, using the financial instruments of the European Union,“ he said.
BNS wrote that on Tuesday night, a drone flying from Belarus into Lithuania was shot down in the Kaišiadorys district, near the Kruonis pumped-storage hydroelectric plant, by Italian fighter jets deployed in Šiauliai.
According to G. Nausėda, there is currently no information that this was a direct Russian attack, but according to the President, such or similar incidents are useful to the Kremlin and may be carried out deliberately.
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„The shot-down drone, other drones, will not necessarily be a direct Russian attack against NATO; probably at this stage they are not prepared for this and do not want it. But it may be that the drone is deliberately allowed to deviate from its course and enter not only Lithuanian but also other Baltic states’ or Poland’s territory, so that the public feels tension. This is useful for Russia,“ the head of state said.
He said, however, that this case should not be considered a violation of NATO’s Article Five: „We cannot talk about the fifth article because this is still a secondary consequence of the war in Ukraine.“
Earlier on Wednesday, G. Nausėda said that a Russian „Gerbera“ type drone fell in the Kaišiadorys district, which was intended to attack Ukraine but deviated from its course.
As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, warnings about possible air threats have been issued in Lithuania in recent months, but this is the first time a drone has been shot down over the country’s airspace. This was previously done in Latvia and Estonia.
Belarus received a strong diplomatic protest from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday due to the drone that flew in.
