Lithuania commemorates the 20th anniversary of joining NATO: “Every day we see how difficult it is to defend freedom”

However, the doors were opened for us by the Americans, and the usual bickering politicians from different parties pushed aside disagreements over such a matter. The residents are now unanimously happy with the presence of NATO – many are convinced that if it were not for this Alliance, we would have already received Russian aggression, like Ukraine.

More about this in TV3 news.

in 1990 March 11 is the day when Lithuania managed to shake off the shackles of the occupying Russians. Immediately after becoming free, there was no shortage of challenges. A year later, on January 13, the nation still had to defend its choice to be free.

I managed to defend myself. And then another work began – an attempt to integrate Lithuania into the West. And managed to do that, back in 2002. US President George Bush, who arrived in Vilnius, said the historic words: “Anyone who chooses Lithuania as their enemy will also become an enemy of the United States of America.”

And in 2004 already in Washington, he officially announced to the whole world that Lithuania and 6 other European countries were accepted into NATO.

At that moment, it was midnight in Lithuania, but the leaders of the country did not sleep – they were waiting for a historic moment.

“Such a stone is rolling. After 14 years. Don’t you understand?” said the then member of the Seimas Vytautas Landsbergis.

“No one expected, even a few years before the Baltic States’ membership in NATO, that this would happen, so quickly and so successfully, because there were no shortage of skeptics, even at that time, who claimed that the geopolitical situation of the Baltic States was too complicated, the neighborhood with Kaliningrad, Belarus and of course, Russia is problematic,” comments Linas Kojala, director of the Center for Eastern European Studies.

Even the European Commission objected

But now, for exactly 20 years, the skies of Lithuania have been protected by the aircraft of NATO allies. 20 years of having allies to help us when we are in trouble.

“Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine reminds us that peace in Europe is not a self-evident phenomenon. We see every day how difficult it is to defend freedom and human dignity,” says President Gitanas Nausėda.

There was much more skepticism about the admission of the Baltic States to NATO in European countries. Many politicians were afraid that Russia would get angry. Even the European Commission objected.

“I want to remind you that back in 1999, when there were still discussions about our membership, when you went to some Western European countries, you could hear the following sentence: the Baltic countries are indefensible. In other words, there is no need to accept them into NATO, because we will have more problems”, says Minister of National Defense Laurynas Kasčiūnas.

And while we all know very well that the fifth article of NATO talks about the fact that an attack by one country is considered an attack by all NATO countries, it is important to remember the third article as well. And he declares that each country must first strengthen its own capacity in order to be able to defend both its own people and those of its allies.

More on that in the video above.