2024-04-14 17:16:18
“There was an invisible fight that might not have been seen in the public space, but nevertheless there were certain working relationships, where there were some disagreements and it was simply suggested that the former minister leave,” said A. Pocius in the “ELTA corner” program.
The politician also explained why, in his opinion, the threat assessments of A. Anušauskas and Minister of Foreign Affairs Gabrielias Landsbergis differed.
“The evaluations of the Minister of Foreign Affairs are the same, because the limits of his responsibility are the same, more political, diplomatic, and the formats are different than those of the Minister of National Defense, who nevertheless listens to military advice,” A. Pocius thought.
“But I don’t think it has harmed the image of our state – it certainly hasn’t.” It’s just a normal internal, political activity that sometimes doesn’t agree and that’s normal in politics,” he added, considering that the different assessment of threats could have been determined by the personal characteristics of A. Anušauskas and G. Landsbergis.
“Arvydas Anušauskas is a reserved, calm, slow person. These are his assessments, perhaps, related to his personal character and his temperament. Gabriel is a person with a different temperament – faster, more active, maybe he looks at some things a little differently,” said the politician.
However, the NSGK chairman believes that by resigning from the position of minister, A. Anušauskas simply missed the opportunity to remain silent.
“Maybe he just missed the opportunity to keep quiet. Sometimes when those words come out that you can’t take back, a fact just happens. Therefore, it is good to take your time with some kind of answer or statement, perhaps it is better to remain silent and then everything will be fine,” said A. Pocius, referring to the former minister’s statements about possible corruption in the national defense system.
“Let’s understand the psychological state of a person, when you are asked to leave your position, the person probably does not feel very well at that time. And in such a situation, emotions and the desire to possibly justify and defend oneself somehow came into play, and such a reaction, perhaps, happened”, the chairman of NSGK thought.
He rejects the scenario that Lithuania may have to defend itself for some time
The NSGK chairman also disagrees with warnings that Lithuania may have to defend itself in the worst case scenario. A. Pocius emphasizes that an armored battalion of the United States of America, a unit of NATO forward forces and other allied soldiers are already stationed in Lithuania to help defend against the aggressor.
“I really reject the option that Lithuania is one. Not alone. We currently have thousands of NATO allied soldiers with military equipment, ammunition, etc., near or on our territory,” said A. Pocius.
“If necessary, as soon as the indicators show that some kind of military forces are being gathered at the border of Lithuania in Belarus, in the Kaliningrad region or at the border of Latvia – there would certainly be a reaction. And, I think that there would be a quick transfer of certain NATO units both to Lithuania and to the region of our Eastern NATO flank,” said the chairman of the NSGK.
ELTA reminds that the former commander of the US ground forces in Europe B. Hodges, who participated in the “Vilnius Security Forum” held in the Seimas at the end of February, warned that in the event of a Russian attack, Lithuania must be ready to defend itself with its own forces for at least two weeks. According to the general, the guarantees of Article 5 of NATO are not automatic – the article is activated by political will. Therefore, he noted, Lithuania must be ready to hold out until the allies’ reinforcements arrive.
However, the then Minister of National Defense A. Anušauskas called such warnings “absurd”.
However, after receiving criticism from some politicians for his warnings to Lithuania, B. Hodges assured that his statements were based not only on knowledge about NATO’s military capabilities, but also on regional specifics. Therefore, he said that he is not changing his position and emphasized that in the worst case scenario, Lithuania may have to fight for some time without reinforcements from allies.
2024-04-14 17:16:18