„The historic strategic partnership between Lithuania and Poland is only growing stronger and gives a new impetus to the whole of Europe,“ said Mr Landsbergis at the meeting, underlining the mutual agreement to continue the dialogue.
As the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (URM) reported, that the Lithuanian and Polish ministers agreed to fundamentally change the West's long-standing approach to the Russian threat, prioritising its comprehensive containment.
„One of the means to weaken Russia and achieve a Ukrainian victory is to strengthen sanctions against Russia and Belarus further. Countries sharing a border with Russia and Belarus must adhere to a single mechanism for implementing sanctions and work together to prevent their circumvention,“ said Mr Landsbergis.
The politicians also discussed the need to mobilise like-minded efforts in the run-up to the Washington Summit, to pursue Ukraine's early integration into the EU and NATO, and to implement critical infrastructure projects without delay, which not only strengthen the economies of Lithuania and Poland but also the security environment.
The Head of the Lithuanian Diplomatic Mission also invited Mr Sikorski to attend the Annual Meeting of the Heads of Lithuanian Diplomatic Missions in Lithuania.
ELTA recalls that the bilateral relations between Lithuania and Poland have recently been discussed in the public sphere after Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė's remarks about the existence of legal restrictions that would limit Polish military assistance to Lithuania in the event of war.
„There are obvious legal restrictions and, to my understanding, this is a problem that needs to be discussed at all levels,“ the Head of the Government told tv3.lt.
Following these statements, the government has been criticised for not resolving these legal formalities yet. Others pointed to NATO's collective defence principles and regional plans, claiming that Šimonytė's statements did not correspond to reality.
However, the Head of Government soon claimed that she had been misunderstood. According to the Prime Minister, she had never said, and could never say, that neighbouring Poland would not come to Lithuania's aid in the event of an attack.
President Gitanas Nausėda also reassured that there are no legal restrictions on the Poles sending troops to Lithuania in the event of war. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who visited Lithuania in early March, echoed this sentiment when he pointed out that the military solidarity between Vilnius and Warsaw is not in question.
