I. Ruginienė is silent about Lithuania's scenarios in the event of NATO disintegration - L. Kasčiūnas' question to R. Kaunas

"Minister of National Defense Robertas Kaunas, who was invited to the meeting of the Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats (TS-LKD) Seimas faction on Monday morning, had to explain to the conservatives also about the statements of Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė.

 

The Prime Minister has previously mentioned that Lithuania has both A, B, and C scenarios in the event of NATO disintegration, but she did not name the latter. Representatives of the Seimas opposition wanted to hear them at least in private conversations, but I. Ruginienė has not met with them so far and has not voiced these plans to them. Minister R. Kaunas, who presented the current affairs of the national defense system, was also asked about this by conservative leader Laurynas Kasčiūnas on Monday morning.

 

"We have already been trying to invite the prime minister to the NSGK (National Security and Defense Council) for a couple of weeks committee meeting, - author's note), and to the meeting of the three opposition factions, to ask her to present to us or at least tell us a little more in depth about both Plan B and Plan C. At least about Plan B, if something were to happen to Plan A. And in her last comment, saying that I would consider it, she said that a Minister of National Defense is definitely needed here - so maybe you can help her answer the question, do we have Plan B, and if we do, what is in that plan?” - asked L. Kasčiūnas. R. Kaunas, smiling, nevertheless reminded him that "all defense plans are very secret." “And we certainly won’t say it so simply that the algorithm of plan A is this, and plan B is this specifically. We ourselves really understand that very well.

 

Again, I can’t speak for the prime minister, so I don’t want to speak for the prime minister – I speak as myself, as the Minister of Defense. Diversification of plans and the situation is always being considered,” the minister explained. R. Kaunas also urged both politicians and journalists not to doubt the NATO Alliance, because there is no reason for that now. “We have agreements, we have obligations, and we don’t have a single objective indicator or fact that would make us doubt it,” the head of the Ministry of Defense asserted. According to him, America shows its commitments to countries that invest in their own defense, and Lithuania is exactly such a state.

 

“So let’s start with the fact that Plan A, NATO’s collective defense and everything else works, exists, and no one is refusing it. If we need some regional solutions, regional solutions also exist,” the minister said.

 

L. Kasčiūnas agreed that NATO’s reliability should not be doubted and the US is certainly in Europe, but added that “every self-respecting state must model other scenarios” if something were to happen. “But there is a conceptual problem: since we have Plan A as the main one, all our defense planning and all acquisitions are modeled according to Plan A, and if something actually happens to Plan A – let’s just assume – it is natural that it is very difficult to switch to Plan B immediately, because you did everything and planned according to Plan A, you made all your purchases according to NATO’s collective defense planning, and if something doesn’t go well, then the question is what do you do then,” the conservative leader said.

 

We remind you that Prime Minister I. Ruginienė previously stated that if NATO collapses, Lithuania would have three possible options for how to proceed.

 

However, her statements in the public sphere and among politicians raised a number of doubts - because she never voiced them. She also spoke about this at a press conference held a few weeks ago. "I find it very strange that someone has questions about such things, we also discussed with the Italian ambassador that today we live in such a reality, where the geopolitical situation is changing so quickly that in practice what you strategized yesterday may be irrelevant tomorrow," the Prime Minister said. “That plan A, B, C – basically possible scenarios, if there were, what if. It is naive to expect that we would see only one, but not the other. Undoubtedly, number one and plan A, or scenario, is the strongest and what we are striving for – a strong NATO Alliance, a strong EU, together with strong relations with the USA. This is the plan that we are striving for, and the reality in which we want to live,” said I. Ruginienė.

 

But behind the scenes and in other formats, she continued, it is really necessary to discuss everything. “We see various changing circumstances and some time ago I really believed that America is firm in its choices, that the NATO Alliance must be strong. But some time ago we all discussed what would happen if America suddenly annexed Greenland, and what would we do then? It seems to me that not discussing these issues would be a huge mistake,” the Head of Government asserted.”