He said there will be opportunities to „demonstrate expert insights“ later. Therefore, he continued, it is more important now to „do without political tricks“ and thus contribute to the success of the ongoing debate.
„When we are talking about the prospect of Ukraine's NATO membership in this difficult period, it is best to do without political tricks – public pessimism does not help when negotiating the formula for the text“, Anušauskas wrote on his Facebook account on Wednesday morning.
„I understand the desire to demonstrate expert insights, but there will be time for that during/after the NATO summit. There are still vacancies on the pedestal of „what did I say“, but can politicians at least refrain for a week and perhaps, at least in this way, contribute to a more successful negotiation?“ – the politician asked.
As previously reported, Dalia Grybauskaitė, who has led Lithuania for two terms, said that the decisions to be agreed at next week's NATO summit in Vilnius are already insufficient. She said that Ukraine will receive „nice words“ rather than a real invitation to join the military Alliance.
„This will be a big mistake, and we will not be able to deter Russia again“, Grybauskaitė said.
Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis is also pessimistic about the summit. He said that NATO leaders will have a heated debate, but there are still uncertainties about both Ukraine and Sweden's membership of the Alliance.
„I would not rule out that the last round of negotiations will take place in Vilnius. It will not necessarily happen, but I would not rule it out. In other words, there will simply be a disagreement on the text, and the negotiations will move to the summit itself, where the leaders will have to reach a final agreement,“ the minister told reporters in the Seimas.
The fate of Sweden, which is seeking membership in the Alliance, is also unclear, he said. There is no great optimism on this issue so far, he said.
„There are still opportunities. The window of opportunity is getting very narrow, but there is no great optimism“, he said.
The NATO summit in Vilnius will take place on 11–12 July. Among the most important and still unresolved issues is Sweden's membership of the Alliance, as well as that of Ukraine, which is under Russian military aggression.
