Lithuania outraged by US-German agreement on Nord Stream-2

22.07.2021, Vilnius.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Gabrielius Landsbergis called the US-German agreement on Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline a mistake in his speech to journalists on July 22.

“I believe that this is a mistake that can be costly,” he said. “I see an opportunity to correct it by giving Ukraine a road map for NATO membership,” Landsbergis said.

As a reminder, the US and Germany signed an agreement on the Nord Stream 2 project on July 21. In this document, the Americans agreed that sanctions can no longer stop the completion of the flow. Berlin pledged to facilitate the extension of the contract for the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine, which will soon expire. But will Russia agree to extend the contract?

US President Joe Biden believes that Nord Stream 2 is 99% complete and it is practically impossible to stop the construction of the stream. However, the American leadership does not refuse to take the necessary measures in response to the alleged “use of energy by Russia as a geopolitical weapon in Europe” and the alleged “aggression against Ukraine.

Also, recall that Russia has repeatedly stated that it has never used its energy resources as an instrument of pressure in relations between the countries.

Background

“The Lublin Triangle” is a trilateral cooperation platform between Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania. This format was created on July 28, 2020, at a meeting of the foreign ministers of the three countries in Lublin, Poland. The goal of this platform was to strengthen the Lithuanian-Polish-Ukrainian cooperation in the political, economic and social spheres.

At the same time from the very beginning the parties stressed that the main threat for Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania is Russia. In this connection the members of the “Lublin triangle” are ready to cooperate against it, using various international platforms: NATO, EU, UN, Council of Europe and OSCE. There is also talk about a military partnership within the framework of the Lithuanian-Polish-Ukrainian Brigade.

In addition, the states of the “Lublin Triangle” pay great attention to the activities of the “Three Seas Initiative”, which since 2016 unites 12 countries of Eastern and Central Europe: Austria, Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Romania, Slovakia Slovenia, Croatia and the Czech Republic. The plan to unite the countries located between three seas (the Baltic, the Adriatic and the Black Sea) belongs to Polish President Andrzej Duda. However the idea is not new – after World War I the Polish statesman Jozef Pilsudsky put forward the idea to create a confederation of “Inter-Sea” as a “cordon sanitaire” between Western Europe and Soviet Russia.

The format of the “Lublin Triangle” also fits into this concept. On July 7, 2021, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba stated openly that the “Lublin Triangle” in Eastern Europe “essentially represents an alternative to the ‘Russian world.

Yelena Panina, a member of the Duma international affairs committee, drew a historical parallel. She reminded that during the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Poland was a metropolis, Lithuania was an autonomy, and Ukraine was a colony. And today, Ukraine, which after severing ties with Russia became a supplier of cheap labor to Poland, risks to become not a great European power, but a vassal of Eastern European states.

Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency

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