NATO has recognized Russia as a long-term military threat, - Budrys

The intelligence community of NATO countries has concluded that Russia poses a long-term military threat to the Alliance, as well as to the entire North Atlantic security, including the USA.

This was stated by Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys at a press conference with his Ukrainian counterpart Andriy Sybiha in Kyiv on April 1.

According to him, Russia has been preparing for confrontation with NATO for decades, and this trend has remained unchanged. This is evidenced by the brutality of the military forces that the Russians have deployed since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

"We can now assess that their military power is also being used for political purposes. These political goals are obvious. Putin has already voiced them several times," Budrys emphasized.

In particular, according to Budrys, the Kremlin is trying to push the US out of Europe, undermine the Alliance’s infrastructure, and prevent the prosperity of the Baltic countries.

"This is a long-term goal for Russia. We assess the threat, intention, and capabilities. The intention is obvious. He openly talks about it. And he is developing his capabilities. Thus, the threat is real and long-term. And we must ensure deterrence," he explained.

Budrys stressed that NATO, like Ukraine, has only three options for interacting with Russia: war, threats, or occupation.

"To avoid the latter, we must be in a position of deterrence, otherwise we risk finding ourselves in a state of war," he stated.

In this context, he called support for Ukraine and its future membership in NATO key elements of security in the region.

"There are no illusions about their intentions. No matter what stories they tell about cooperation, they need no one. They need territories, they want to subjugate neighbors. These are the people we are dealing with. Therefore, our duty now is to convince European partners to invest more in defense and strengthen our capabilities to be effective against the Russians," Budrys concluded.