VILNIUS, LITHUANIA — U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin assured the three Baltic nations Saturday that they would not be on their own if faced with security threats from Russia, but he stopped short of promising a permanent deployment of American troops in the former Soviet republics.
Austin was in Lithuania as a massive Russian troop buildup and other actions have Western officials saying that Moscow could invade Ukraine at any time, although Russia has denied planning an invasion.
“They are uncoiling and are now poised to strike,” Austin said Saturday about the readiness of Russia’s troops to attack Ukraine.
Lithuanian officials voiced concerns that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s alleged ambitions could expand to the entire region.
“The battle for Ukraine is a battle for Europe. If Putin is not stopped there, he will go further,” Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said during a joint news conference with Austin. “They are choosing the way that is based on force. We need to send a very clear and unambiguous message that it would be faced by a very clear and swift response.”
In an interview with The Associated Press on Saturday, Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte noted that some European political leaders a few years ago spoke of NATO being “irrelevant.”
“Putin must be surprised now by the unity of the West, which is much stronger than ever,” Simonyte told The AP. ” Now we see how relevant NATO is and how important it is that we have absolute unity of NATO and the European Union. And the most important message to Mr. Putin is that there will be no decisions on countries behind the countries’ back. This is what he wants to achieve.”
