00:00One of Ukraine's strongest backers among EU personalities was, and is, the former Lithuanian
00:06Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis.
00:09Angeles Kujins caught up with him to get his take on the current situation.
00:14Lithuania is part of NATO, so the reason why we are in the alliance is that we expect
00:21these sort of situations that we're currently seeing, so-called hybrid events, and the potential
00:27escalation to be mitigated by the allies.
00:31There's only so much that we can do, and Lithuania is doing our part by increasing the financing
00:37and the debate is ongoing whether Lithuania should return to universal conscription, boosting
00:43our own ability to defend the country.
00:46When it comes to Russian escalation, we really need NATO's response.
00:52And let's just talk about the Foreign Affairs Council meeting on Monday in the Belgian capital.
00:57We're expecting to get an update from Ukraine's Minister for Defence.
01:01We're expecting him to call on allies to step up when it comes to air defence support in particular.
01:07We also know that the EU Foreign High Representative Kaya Kalas, she's really been pressing Greece
01:14and Spain to hand over their Patriot interceptor missiles.
01:18Why do you think that that lobbying hasn't been successful?
01:21Well, there are very deep and diverging points of view as to what is the main security issue
01:30for the northern part of Europe and southern part of Europe.
01:34With exceptions, clearly, but I mean, for example, we know how Greece operates and how they see
01:41their threats and what they are defending their islands from.
01:44It's not Russia.
01:45Russia.
01:46It's, you know, it's basically their neighbour.
01:49Spain has, you know, an entirely different mentality as well as to how they see their threats.
01:54And it's something, in some cases, very difficult for, you know, northern and eastern part of Europe
01:59to understand that, right?
02:01Well, we are facing what we think is an existential threat, right?
02:04We have drones flying over our heads, you know, and then, you know, and then people preparing
02:10for that, you know, who knows, invasion or, you know, increased escalating hybrid, hybrid attacks.
02:17And, you know, and how do you convince them if this is not enough?
02:20We've also seen reporting coming out recently regarding a potential Russian threat regarding
02:26those Mediterranean countries.
02:28The source here is allegedly from Lithuania, someone close to the government.
02:33From my point of view, it is not too surprising.
02:36Russia has been known to use a shadow fleet against, to launch drones against Germany, against
02:43the United Kingdom.
02:43So, theoretically, why wouldn't they be able to do the same thing with southern European
02:49countries, right?
02:50We also know that Ukraine, the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stated publicly that
02:59there is a 20 billion euro shortfall currently.
03:02He's asking allies to step in and fill the gap.
03:04But we also know the European Commission has been exerting quite a bit of pressure on the
03:09radar to implement reforms to access more cash.
03:12What do you make of this saga?
03:15Both points of view are right.
03:16So, on one hand, clearly, Ukraine rather has to do their homework.
03:21There is no way around it.
03:22They made the promise and they didn't deliver on it.
03:25But on the other hand, what President Zelenskyy is saying is also true.
03:29So, they have this military budget that has been constrained in a way because they are very
03:35actively operating in Russian airspace by attacking logistics centers, oil refiners and stuff like
03:43that.
03:43It's very expensive, you know, to perform these operations.
03:46And they might be lacking funds even by the end of this year.
03:50So, the question to European Union might fall to, you know, that might become a strategic
03:56question.
03:56We can argue that they need to do reforms and they will do that maybe slowly, slower than
04:02we would like to, but then the question is, so do we allow Ukraine to just stop defending
04:08themselves if they lack the money?
04:11And I believe that that will be the most important question of the next year, even.
