“Carving a nail into the wall to say that US soldiers will be on Lithuanian territory is nothing, but there is no need to damage the wall. It is enough, first of all, to have political recognition, which the United States sends through various channels – that the United States treats this region as truly very important from a strategic point of view,” G. Nausėda said on LRT’s “Dienos tema” program on Wednesday.
“From this, a logical conclusion can be drawn that the attention of the United States in regrouping their military forces in Europe should certainly not be diverted from this region,” he said.
Earlier on Wednesday, the head of state expressed hope that all answers regarding the rotation of US troops in Lithuania would be clear by the end of October.
G. Nausėda urged the public to be patient about this.
“I understand that people have already lost patience waiting for the final decision and result. But I can only ask for a little more patience. Let’s wait a few weeks and, I hope, we will get those answers,” the president said.
As BNS wrote, G. Nausėda said he expects more answers on this issue after the meeting of Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys with Secretary of State Marco Rubio during his visit to the US.
The US is currently reviewing its troop presence in Europe. This summer, more than a thousand American soldiers completed their rotation in Lithuania, with a small number remaining in the country.
Lithuania’s NATO ambassador Darius Jauniškis stated in August that Lithuania is receiving positive signals from Washington regarding the presence of US troops in the country.
Americans have regularly deployed battalions of soldiers in Lithuania since 2019. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began, Washington changed its force status in Lithuania to continuous rotational deployment.
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