EU and NATO express their support for Lithuania in the face of Lukashenko’s hybrid war

The president of the European Commission (EC), Ursula von der Leyen, and the secretary general of the OTAN, Jens Stoltenberg, today guaranteed their support for Lithuania in the face of the hybrid war organized by the regime of Belarusian President Alexandr Lukashenko.

At a press conference in Vilnius together with the President of Lithuania, Gitanas Nauseda, and the Prime Minister, Ingrida Šimonyte, Von der Leyen expressed the “total solidarity of the EU with Lithuania, Latvia and Poland in these difficult times”.

“Lukashenko has failed in his attempt to undermine the solidarity and unity of the EU,” he said.

For months, Lithuania has been facing a “cynical and dangerous hybrid attack” organized by the Lukashenko regime and putting the lives of innocent civilians at risk, and to which the Baltic country has responded with “humanity and firmness”, he said.

He guaranteed that the EU will continue to support Lithuania and recalled that it will triple the funds for border management in Lithuania, Latvia and Poland to 200 million euros for this year and next.

He added that to fight against the various forms of hybrid attack – disinformation, cyberattacks or the current situation of “instrumentalization of human beings for political reasons” – it is important that the EU and NATO work together.

To respond to these increasing attacks, the EU and NATO must “move to the next level,” he said, announcing that a new Joint Declaration is being worked on to renew and update cooperation in order to create a “very strong alliance. ”.

“The Lukashenko regime is exploiting vulnerable people to pressure neighboring countries. That’s inhuman and cynical, ”Stoltenberg said for his part.

He assured that “no NATO ally is alone” and that “this crisis affects both NATO and the EU”, of which, he recalled, Lithuania is a member.

He also referred to the objective of improving cooperation between NATO and the EU with a new Joint Declaration, because both organizations, he stressed, are “stronger and safer” when they cooperate.

Nauseda for her part pointed out that there is no doubt that “the Lukashenko regime and the forces that support it will continue to test with all possible means and tactics the unity of the Western world and its ability to respond and repel hybrid attacks in the form of illegal migration ”.

Šimonyte underlined the importance of remembering the origin of this hybrid attack: “The Belarusian people were deprived of their right to decide their own fate and this is how the EU assessed the situation.”