Lithuanian leader says Western powers naive about Russia: report
PR dla Zagranicy
Grzegorz Siwicki
20.06.2018 14:40
Lithuania’s president has said that Western powers are naive in their assessment of Russia and that her country should be ready to defend itself against a potential Russian invasion, according to a report.
![Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite. Photo: EU2018BG Bulgarian Presidency [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](http://external.polskieradio.pl/files/46f2720b-73a3-4077-b48b-d7c5395ffc8b.file "Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite. Photo: EU2018BG Bulgarian Presidency [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons")
Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite. Photo: EU2018BG Bulgarian Presidency [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Dalia Grybauskaite has been quoted as saying that a threat of Russia invading Lithuania remains high, but will be countered if her country shows that it can and is ready to defend itself, the Unian news agency reported on Wednesday, citing an interview the Lithuanian leader gave to a German magazine.
"The likelihood [of Russian invasion] is high if we don't constantly defend ourselves," Grybauskaite was quoted as saying in the interview with the German weekly Der Spiegel.
"If we demonstrate that we are able and willing to defend ourselves, no one will attack us," she added, as quoted by the Kiev-based Ukrainian news agency on its website.
According to Grybauskaite, Lithuania should be "politically and technologically" prepared for a possible Russian attack, the unian.info website reported.
Grybauskaite also told Der Spiegel that "Russian troops on the border with the Baltics and Poland are ten times stronger than those of NATO,” according to unian.info.
She said, as quoted by Unian, that Western states are naive in their assessment of Russia and will “wake up” only “when they have been attacked” and “notice that Russia interferes in their interests, spies on them or manipulates their elections."
(gs/pk)
Source: www.unian.info