Lithuanian Seimas Speaker Viktoras Pranckietis sees no opportunities for significant changes in relations with Russia until Moscow changes its position on Ukraine.
“We have trade relations. We have diplomatic relations. We have neither the opportunity nor the desire to give up values. Further, as the [Lithuanian] president stated, there are no changes in the position of Russia or its leadership, so one cannot hope for changes in relations,” he said in an interview with the Ziniu Radijas radio station on Jan. 3.
Lithuanian Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis, in turn, said in an interview published on Dec. 31, that this year Lithuania should establish contacts with representatives of the Russian authorities, and called the former isolation policy pursued by his country as unprofitable and unique in the European Union.
According to Skvernelis, the resumption of ties should be approached pragmatically, but at the same time one should not abandon strategic positions on Ukraine.
Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite said in late December that with a change in the geopolitical situation, Lithuania should also be ready to change its stance towards Russia without giving up values. According to the head of state, “it is better to communicate and trade, rather than fight” with neighbors. However, she said that changes are possible only if Moscow refuses from “occupied territories in Ukraine, aggressive policy in Eastern Europe and interference in democratic elections.”
According to Pranckietis, the opinions expressed by these two politicians are correct and do not contradict each other.
“I think there is a possibility. The prime minister mentions the level of deputy ministers, so some change in the government in this sphere may happen… There are economic goals, but in what way they arise in relations with states is already a matter of our self-determination,” he said.
