Lithuania, the largest of three Baltic countries that were once part of the Soviet Union, seems bent on provoking Russia in the most outrageous way possible. There’s even talk of amending the constitution to permit nuclear weapons on Lithuanian territory. “Given the situation we are in, the geopolitical situation and what is happening, I believe it is certainly worth doing,” Seimas Speaker Juozas Olekas told reporters at the parliament this morning, LRT reported today. Olekas said Lithuania should define its position on nuclear deterrence more clearly and consider joining broader NATO or European “nuclear umbrella” initiatives.
Placing nuclear weapons in Lithuania would be a tremendous provocation to Russia, but the Lithuanian provocations don’t stop there. Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kastutis Budris wants NATO to invade Kaliningrad. “We have to show the Russians that we can get into their little fortress that they built in Kaliningrad. NATO can destroy Russian air and missile defense bases in an emergency,” Budris told Neue Zürcher Zeitung in an interview.
As if this weren’t mad enough, Budris went further: “For 36 years [since the end of the Soviet Union—ed.] we have painstakingly cleansed our energy sector, banks and politics from Russian influence. Everything that came from Russia was toxic and corrupt. We have dropped the Russian ballast, and our lives have improved. We were 100% dependent on the energy import—by 2030 we will become a net exporter of green energy. Europe will not only be able to survive without Russian gas and oil, it will thrive.”
