“Our scouts make the following forward-looking translation: threat in the current period, threat in the medium term and threat in the long term. Looking at their assessment, it is certainly not a direct threat today at the given moment that a military conflict or an invasion of our country may occur,” V. Rupšys said in an interview broadcast on Thursday to the LRT TV show “Dienos Tema”.
Meanwhile, in the medium term, which lasts from five to ten years, according to V. Rupšis, a lot will depend on the outcome of the war in Ukraine.
“Then there is a bigger perspective. But the assessment is that we really believe that Russia will continue to exist in the long term, in the medium term, it is definitely a threat to us. But everything will depend on us. We need to calmly, coolly prepare for that conflict. Whether he will be or not, it will really depend on us,” said the army commander.
He also said that Russia is not ready to attack NATO, and even “unpredictable Russia, unpredictable sometimes V. Putin really knows that NATO is a nuclear union.”
“They simply assessed Ukraine as a country that will not resist – either it will not have the will or it will not have the capacity to resist. NATO is a completely different matter. NATO has the appropriate weapons and still has them, no matter how disarmed we may say they are. Just look at the Scandinavian countries, they have more than 140 fifth generation fighters or aircraft. Russia really knows that, appreciates that,” noted the army commander.
The head of Lithuanian diplomacy, G. Landsbergis, publicly called several times this week to prepare for the scenario that Russia, which is not stopped in Ukraine, will continue the fight against NATO countries. The Minister of Foreign Affairs also emphasizes that Lithuania needs to take strategic decisions to strengthen its security right now.
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2024-08-13 14:05:15
