Lithuanian parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee: Reset of relations with Russia failed

“Our government’s program more than two years ago included an idea of reloading relations with Russia. The reset idea with the neighbour failed. If you look closer, the idea was also part of the policies of (US President Barack) Obama, and Obama’s idea also failed,” Juodka told journalists on Wednesday in his presentation of the Lithuanian foreign policy guidelines approved by the committee.

“We have an unpredictable neighbour, therefore, predicting any type of political reset in advance is a rather difficult thing to do, but this does not mean that we should stop communicating with our neighbours, we should have our spine to proceed with our foreign policies,” said the chairman of the parliamentary committee.

The governmental program approved in December 2012 suggested that the Lithuanian-Russian relations needed a “reset”. In the document, the government pledged to build cooperation with Russia based on European values that boost mutual trust and focus on the future rather than the past.

Meanwhile, the guidelines endorsed by the parliamentary committee on Wednesday includes a goal of supporting civil society in Russia and working to promote values of democracy, human rights and freedom.

In Juodka’s words, the guidelines list relations with neighbours among the three most important foreign policy areas.

Other key areas include implementation of the Eastern Partnership program and European Union enlargement, as well as ensuring Lithuania’s security and independence.