Lithuania: an independence day in the colors of Ukraine
On this Independence Day, Friday, March 11, the flag of Lithuania flew alongside that of Ukraine in Vilnius.
AFP - PETRAS MALUKAS
Text by: Marielle Vitureau
3 mins
32 years ago, Lithuania declared its independence in a historic vote and broke away from Moscow.
In 2004, the country joined the western world by joining the European Union and NATO.
This former Soviet republic today unconditionally supports Ukraine at war.
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From our correspondent in Vilnius,
Along Vilnius' Gedimino Avenue, Tadas, a young man born after Lithuania's independence, waits for the parade to pass to join him.
On
this Independence Day
, it is wrapped in the yellow-green-red flag of Lithuania, but has only Ukraine in mind.
“
When international events take such a turn, such a celebration has a double meaning.
We also came to support Ukraine
,
”
he explains.
For two weeks, the whole of Lithuania has been decked out in the colors of Ukraine.
"
The two countries have the same aspirations and there are no longer any differences
,
"
said Eglė, a young woman who came to show her solidarity with women in front of the Ukrainian embassy on 8 March.
“
If Ukraine is attacked, so is Lithuania
,
”
she continues.
Thirty-two years after its exit from the Soviet Union, and even if the membership of their country to NATO reassures many Lithuanians, it happens that concern breaks through.
In the sights of Moscow
Because Moscow has still not digested this exit from the USSR.
The Kremlin also has Vilnius in its sights because of its support for emerging democracies in Eastern Europe, which Russia would like to keep in its fold.
As early as 2004, Lithuania supported the Orange Revolution in Ukraine.
It was also in Vilnius that the European Union tried, in vain, to convince Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych to initial the association agreement.
An agreement finally signed only five years ago.
And when Kiev filed its application for EU membership
on February 28
, the Lithuanian Parliament voted unanimously in support of it.
MEPs called for the “
unreserved application of an accelerated procedure for Ukraine to join the European Union
” to be applied
.
“
The future of democratic Europe is being played out on Ukrainian soil
,
”
said Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda just before leaving for the
summit of European heads of state in Versailles
.
Even if the feeling of security dominates – and the diplomatic ballet of the last few days with in particular the visit of the American Secretary of State Anthony Blinken reinforces it – Lithuania is asking for help from its allies who have all reinforced their presence there within of the NATO battalion.
She herself is no exception.
The Lithuanian Parliament will thus study next week an increase in the defense budget.
The additional funds should notably be allocated to the construction of new barracks to accommodate a brigade of 2,400 soldiers.
More audible fears
Lithuania applied for NATO membership in 1994. The letter was sent to Manfred Werner, then Secretary General, "
on behalf of all of Lithuania
", recalls Linas Linkevicius, then Minister of Defense.
But it was only after September 11, 2001 that the position of the allies changed with this sentence of American President George W. Bush pronounced in Vilnius in 2022: "
Whoever chooses Lithuania as an enemy, also becomes the enemy of the United United of America
”
.
For Linas Linkevicius, “
their political decision had been taken, they were ready to defend the Baltic countries and to accept us in the Alliance
”.
In 2004, Lithuania joined NATO.
Since then, mentalities within NATO have changed.
The case of the poisoning of Sergei Skripal in 2018, the flight MH17 shot down in mid-flight in 2014, opened the eyes of the Allies to the nature of the regime in Moscow.
Today, the fears of Lithuania and the countries of the region are now more audible.
A long membership process
Lithuania joined the European Union in 2004, a process that lasted almost 10 years.
“
We seized an opportunity.
Russia was then relatively weak and had a sort of Western tropism,
” recalls Klaudijus Maniokas, one of the negotiators and who now works as a consultant for European projects.
In 1995, the European Union withdrew the three Baltic countries from the Tacis program for the former Soviet republics and integrated them into its Phare support program for central Europe.
“
This is both a technical decision, but also a geopolitical one.
Thus the European Union took the decision to consider the Baltic countries no longer really as ex-Soviet.
They have a certain European perspective,
” explains Klaudijus Maniokas.
The same year, Lithuania signed an association agreement with the European Union.
Between 1997 and 1999, Lithuania worked hard to prove that it too had a chance of joining.
Negotiations were concluded in 2002.
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