Lithuanian Foreign Minister warns West against "repeating mistakes" and urges not to wait for another Pearl Harbour

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis believes the West is on the verge of repeating historical mistakes by supporting Ukraine insufficiently in its fight against Russian aggression and has warned against waiting for a "Pearl Harbour effect".

Source: Landsbergis on Twitter, as reported by European Pravda

Quote: "For nearly 25 years we have been kicking [the] can down the road, trying to contain Putin's imperialism with dialogue and diplomacy while he continues to ignore borders and flatten cities," the official stressed.

Details: Landsbergis pointed out that the Minsk Agreements had provided a pause after Russia's hybrid aggression against Ukraine in 2014 but actually only postponed the war to the future [the Minsk Agreements is a well-established umbrella term describing the three joint documents of the parties involved in the settlement of the situation during Russia’s 2014 invasion of Ukraine, mediated under the Normandy format].

"Tomorrow always comes. The problem of Russia's imperialism didn't disappear in 2014, and to most eastern flankers it was clear that the next phase of the invasion would be costlier and deadlier. And so it was. When Russia attacked again, the war suddenly became today’s problem. Again we think we can solve it by making it tomorrow’s problem. But the premise has not changed. Russia’s imperialist revanchist ambitions will remain," the Lithuanian Foreign Minister stressed.

Gabrielius Landsbergis stressed that the next phase of the hot war might be directed not only against Ukraine, Georgia or Moldova but also against a NATO country, and the cost of repelling such aggression would be even higher.

"We could wait for what I have called the 'Pearl Harbour effect', a moment in history when the problems of tomorrow finally become the problems of today, but at an enormously inflated price. Or we could treat this as today’s problem and start solving it today."

"We are on the verge of repeating historic mistakes. I am convinced that if we won’t defeat Russia now, that means our chosen path is to suffer unimaginable and unnecessary losses before we eventually decide it’s time to step up and win."

Background: Earlier this autumn, Landsbergis suggested that a Russian attack on a NATO member was "only a matter of time" if Moscow did not suffer a decisive defeat in Ukraine and called for the introduction of general conscription in Lithuania.

However, the Lithuanian president criticised him for his initial statement.

Polish President Andrzej Duda also stressed that if Russia is not defeated, it will attack again.

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