Skaisgirytė urges a strategic view of US decisions

Lithuania should assess US decisions on troop deployments with a cool head and focus on the broader strategic picture, presidential foreign policy adviser Asta Skaisgirytė said Tuesday, LRT reported.

“The presence of US troops in Lithuania is very important to us, strategically important,” Skaisgirytė told Žinių radijas. As the United States reviews its forces in Europe and deployments are being reorganised, she said, Lithuania should avoid emotional reactions and make a measured assessment.

Skaisgirytė declined to comment on Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius’s description of the US decision to temporarily ease sanctions on Russian diesel as shameful and dishonourable. President Gitanas Nausėda said Monday that the move was linked to the upcoming US midterm elections, created conditions for reducing Russia’s isolation and made it “a bad day”.

The United States is reviewing its troop presence in Europe. Lithuanian officials have said that, after a pause of several months, US troop rotations in Lithuania are restarting, with two American battalions due to be deployed in the country in late October.

Skaisgirytė also said she could not confirm that the US administration had pressured Lithuanian diplomats to withdraw from a disinformation conference held in Vilnius. She acknowledged, however, that the event’s content had not been properly assessed before it was granted patronage.

“Before granting patronage or support to an event, we need to carefully assess whether it aligns with our strategic interests,” she said. “If it does not, we should simply not support it.” She added that something had not been checked in time, resulting in an “unpleasant situation”. Asked directly about US pressure, she said she could not confirm it.

The conference, held last week, was scheduled to include a session describing the United States as an actor in foreign information manipulation and interference, or FIMI. Politico reported that this angered US President Donald Trump’s administration and that the State Department asked US embassies in several European countries and the EU to express Washington’s concerns and assess whether participating governments agreed with the characterisation.

Three US officials familiar with the matter told Reuters that the United States had urged Lithuania and Canada to withdraw from the Disinfo 2026 conference. Two said US Ambassador to Lithuania Kara McDonald was involved in the requests.

Lithuania’s Foreign Ministry said last week that it was withdrawing from the event, distancing itself from its content and asking organisers not to link the ministry to the conference in its materials. Nausėda said Monday that experts’ personal views should be distinguished from the official position of the state. Lithuanian representatives and experts from other countries may hold differing views about Lithuania’s main ally, he said, but those views should not be presented as Lithuania’s official position.