News

President Dalia Grybauskaitė attended on May 27 in Warsaw the meeting of Central European heads of state with US President Barack Obama. At the working dinner the Lithuanian President underlined that NATO anti-missile defense must cover all Allies. According to the President, NATO-Russian relations are particularly important for Lithuania owing to its strategically special location on the boundary of the Alliance's territory. The President said the agreement reached in the NATO Lisbon Summit must not be changed and must not become the object of negotiations with Russia. "NATO countries must defend themselves, and Russia must defend itself," President Dalia Grybauskaitė said.

According to President Grybauskaitė, the US President said commenting Lithuania‘s position that he had the opportunity to discuss the issue with the Russian President during the recent G-8 meeting in France. The Lithuanian President said US President Obama assured that the US position remained the same as agreed in Lisbon, i.e. cooperation with Russia is based on sharing information, not dividing into defense sectors and not creating joint integrated anti-missile defense systems. According to the Lithuanian President, the meeting in Warsaw confirmed once again the meaningfulness of Lithuania's position and revealed good prospects of further cooperation with partners of the Aliance as it prepares for the upcoming NATO Summit next year and as it continues to strengthen security of the Allies.