Joint letter to NATO from the Parliaments of the three Baltic States and Poland calling to refrain from giving in to Russia’s demands and to strengthen the Alliance’s deterrence capabilities
On the initiative of the Chairs of the Seimas Committees on National Security and Defence and on Foreign Affairs, parliamentarians of the three Baltic States and Poland sent a letter to Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General; Gerald E. Connolly, President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly; and to the parliamentary committees on foreign and security policy of NATO member countries.
In their letter, the Chairpersons of the Baltic and Polish parliamentary committees call on the Alliance to remain united in the face of the growing Russian threat and not to give in to its threats. In December, Russia made ultimatum demands and is deploying massive military forces on Ukraine’s borders, demanding guarantees from the US and the Alliance that NATO will never accept any new members from the post-Soviet space.
The letter states that Russia’s demands on the Alliance restrict the right of self-determination of states and go against NATO’s open door policy. ‘Ukraine, Georgia and other states have the right to choose their own security course and neither Russia nor any other third country has a say in the admission of new members to NATO. Russia’s demands are nothing less than an attempt to return to the days when Europe was divided into spheres of influence between the major powers,’ said Laima Liucija Andrikienė, Chair of the Seimas Committee on Foreign Affairs.
The letter also stresses that the security of members of the Alliance is indivisible and that the defence of the Baltic States and Poland cannot be linked to Russia’s action on the Ukrainian border. According to Laurynas Kasčiūnas, NATO represents an indivisible security guarantee area that is to be equally defended and not to be divided into any zones or lines, as this is one of NATO’s fundamental principles. Russia’s demands to limit the capabilities necessary for the Alliance’s defence are unacceptable. ‘In our letter, we call for the strengthening of NATO’s deterrence capabilities, because deterrence is cheaper than defence,’ Mr Kasčiūnas noted.
Monika Kutkaitytė