VILNIUS - The Nordic and Baltic countries (NB8) should seek joint initiatives to strengthen transatlantic cooperation, Lithuanian Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas has said.
"We … agreed that the security of the Baltic Sea region is inseparable from maintaining a strong transatlantic bond. During our meeting, we noted that there is no stronger deterrent to Russia than the presence of US forces in Europe," Paluckas told a press conference after his meeting with the Swedish prime minister on Tuesday.
"We should seek joint, probably NB8 initiatives that would further enhance transatlantic cooperation," the Lithuanian prime minister added.
Asked whether Washington could be trusted in the current geopolitical situation, the prime minister said that, although "you have to check twice your social network profiles" each morning to see what was happening across the Atlantic, the agreements between the United States and Europe were still valid.
"We have a history of bilateral and multilateral relations and even if sometimes our belief shatters, we still have very strong ties and relationships… We need to put our diplomatic and political efforts, but I believe that we will go through these turbulent times and we'll manage to have the United States on our side supporting our region," Paluckas said.
For his part, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson pointed out that the decisions of both Stockholm and Vilnius to increase the share of defense spending show that the countries do not take the US presence in the region for granted.
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