Matulionis says Lithuania should avoid deliberately provoking Russia

Lithuanian presidential chief adviser Deividas Matulionis said there was no need to deliberately provoke or irritate Russia, while stressing that the presidency had received no request from the Pentagon to soften its rhetoric. He made the remarks in an interview with ELTA, LRT reported.

Matulionis said Lithuania should focus on practical measures rather than constant public warnings. Russia’s threat was now widely understood, he said, and Lithuania and its NATO allies were taking the necessary steps.

He added that political rhetoric mattered because it could provide a pretext for further escalation. Lithuania’s approach, he said, was to speak calmly but firmly and work with its allies to strengthen defence capabilities. He said the country’s rhetoric had not changed, although it might be placing emphasis on different points.

Reuters reported on Friday, citing four anonymous sources, that Pentagon officials had urged representatives of several NATO countries, including Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, to speak more cautiously about the threat from Russia.

One source said US officials were concerned by statements from European leaders describing Russia as cornered and resorting to increasingly desperate measures as its invasion of Ukraine made little progress. The sources said one of the US officials who conveyed the message was Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby. According to one source, Colby told a Baltic official that Russia should not be provoked, citing comparisons of the country to a “cornered rat” as an example of unhelpful rhetoric. Reuters also reported that Pentagon officials urged an Estonian delegation to use restraint in public statements.