Western allies failed to heed warning calls from the three Baltic states of Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia about the growing military threat from Russia, dismissing their views as biased due to the “traumatic childhood” of post-Soviet nations, said former Lithuanian Foreign Affairs Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis in an interview with the Kyiv Post.
“Every time I raised the topic of the Russian threat and how we should be dealing with Russia, I would hear comments from our Western friends, spoken in a condescending tone, that this was due to our history,” Landsbergis said.
The West argued that post-Soviet countries couldn’t view Russia objectively because of their traumatic past having endured oppressive Soviet occupation.
“They insisted that everything we said was rooted in history, in our very traumatic childhood,” he said. “It’s even funny when it turns out that we were the only ones who were right about Russia and the current situation we are in.”
He provided an example of when Lithuania and its Baltic neighbors pushed for a more urgent approach, which was: “We have to help Ukraine with whatever the victory takes.”
In contrast, the West adopted a more cautious stance, and instead said, “as long as it takes.”
“Both narratives support Ukraine, both are moving in the same direction. The one we proposed states that we don’t want this war to last forever. We want Ukraine’s victory, safe Baltics, and a safe region as quickly as possible. We also know that we have the tools to make this happen,” the minister said.
Landsbergis argued that the Western approach, while supportive, has been limited to helping Ukraine survive and not lose, rather than enabling a decisive victory.
Read the full interview via the link.
Cover: Gabrielius Landsbergis. Source: Shutterstock.
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