Prime Minister has met with the French academic community of political sciences: if democracies are to survive, our bond must be stronger
Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė, who is continuing her working visit to France, has met with the management and students of the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po). In her address to the students, Prime Minister of Lithuania emphasized the importance of unity and internal resilience of democracies, as highlighted by Russia's war against Ukraine.
‘My country, Lithuania, is neighbouring Russia, which considers us to be an area of its special interests. Russia refuses to recognise that the countries in our region, formerly occupied by the Soviet Union, are now independent sovereign states and not its colonies. Russia's war in Ukraine is nothing other than an attempt to re-establish an empire by trampling the right of its neighbours to freely decide their future.
‘At the same time, Vladimir Putin's regime is trying to conceal its aggression and divert attention from its imperial ambitions by trying to present our sovereign choices as the result of Western expansion, when it is precisely Russia that seeks to subjugate smaller and weaker nations’, said Prime Minister Šimonytė at the meeting with the students.
Prime Minister of Lithuania emphasized that many people are only now beginning to realize that one of the most powerful instruments of influence of authoritarian regimes is the democratic nations’ dependence on natural resources controlled by such regimes. Russia is now blackmailing European countries through their dependence on gas, and is similarly exploiting food shortages in vulnerable regions of the world caused by the war that Russia itself had started.
‘And while Russia has suffered successive military setbacks in Ukraine, we have to admit that it is successful in capturing the minds and hearts of people on other continents by cynically exploiting its propaganda and narratives of the 'colonial West' and 'friendly Russia', said Prime Minister Šimonytė.
According to the Head of the Government of Lithuania, Western countries, responding to the aggression, have so far acted in a united and principled manner in support of Ukraine. Their societies, including the French, have shown compassion and solidarity towards the Ukrainian refugees. Yet the struggle between democracy and authoritarianism–be it in Ukraine or elsewhere–will not be won in a matter of days or weeks but will require patience and unity.
‘If democracies are to withstand current and potential attacks by dictatorships, our bond must be stronger and more sustainable than situational alliances between autocrats and their mutual sympathies’, said Prime Minister.