Budrys says securing US troop presence is achievable

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys told LRT on Friday that Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius’s expectation of “good news” about the continued presence of US troops in Lithuania was achievable.

“This is not an impossible task. I see it as work: you go and get it done,” Budrys told reporters. He said he had raised the issue during all his meetings and would discuss it during his upcoming visit to the United States.

“We know that our task is to secure the longest possible presence of US troops, the most distant rotations possible, and to know about them in advance, so that Lithuania is clearly marked in the United States’ future deployment of forces,” Budrys said.

He described this as the responsibility of the entire government, as well as of the foreign and defence ministers individually. Budrys said details of his meetings would be announced closer to the visit, adding that arrangements were still being coordinated.

The United States is currently reviewing the presence of its troops in Europe, according to BNS. More than 1,000 US troops ended a rotation in Lithuania this summer, although some remained in the country.

In early August, the United States sent European countries a questionnaire asking them to show progress in taking the leading role in the continent’s defence after an agreement to increase military budgets.

The US has regularly deployed battalions to Lithuania since 2019. After Russia invaded Ukraine, Washington changed the status of its forces in Lithuania to continuous rotational deployment.

Budrys questions impact of planned China meeting

Budrys also said he doubted that a planned meeting between Lithuanian MPs and representatives of China’s mission to the European Union in Brussels would help improve relations.

MPs Ignas Vėgėlė and Rimas Jonas Jankūnas intend to attend the meeting. Budrys said he believed their motives were state-oriented but acknowledged there could also be some lack of knowledge about the issue.

“I do not think such plans would help achieve our objectives,” the foreign minister said. He added that the Foreign Ministry had shared its assessment and information with the MPs.

Six members of a parliamentary group seeking to identify and remove obstacles to restoring diplomatic relations with China had planned to travel to Brussels in early September, according to Delfi. The group was established in December last year.

The MPs asked for half of the trip’s expenses to be covered by funds allocated for official travel and the other half by parliamentary funds. On Wednesday, however, the Seimas board rejected the request.

Vėgėlė later said he would travel to Brussels anyway and pay for the trip himself. Conservative MP Radvilė Morkūnaitė-Mikulėnienė asked the parliamentary Ethics and Procedures Commission to assess the visit.