Fast dialogue with Russia would allow Moscow dodge commitments, warns Lithuanian foreign minister

“There have been calls to reset the Russian relations with the West. The reset should not start with deleting the entries of violations and with the old ‘operating system.’ We should learn the lessons from 2008 war with Georgia when we were too quick to restart the dialogue before Russia had met its obligations,” Linkevičius said during a meeting with US security experts in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.

The minister also invited to search for ways of offsetting the propaganda, which has lately been the focus of Russia’s resources and attention. In Linkevičius’ words, upgrading the information activities on Russia’s side has revealed that the Western world is lagging behind in this battle.

Linkevičius also briefed the experts on Lithuania’s national efforts to step up its national and regional security by way of implementing the decisions made at the NATO summit, as well as ensure energy independence by way of the liquefied natural gas terminal due to arrive in late October. All experts emphasized Lithuania’s significant role in reinforcing democracies in Eastern Europe and Euro-Atlantic security.

Linkevičius is in a Lithuanian delegation headed by Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius on a visit in the US until Sunday.