Current Status: Introduced in the Senate - Sponsored by Senator Jeanne Shaheen - Referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
BAFL's Anne Smith took the lead in working closely with staff to urge language to support NATO in Sen. Res. 251: "Celebrating the 2023 NATO Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, and expressing priorities related to transatlantic security and the NATO Strategic Concept."
As Americans of Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian ancestry, we feel great pride watching the Baltic countries prepare for the NATO Summit and for all they have accomplished as NATO members for nearly 30 years. Yet, our enthusiasm is tempered by Russia’s brutality against Ukrainian civilians that Vladimir Putin and his ally Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus will not stop. We watch with concern as an unpredictable and aggressive Vladimir Putin tests the resolve of NATO by placing tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus while mercenary Yevgeni Prighozhin is “exiled” to Belarus.
As Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis recently told the Financial Times, the territory between Belarus and Poland in particular needs reinforcement saying, “The Suwalki Gap – if that is lost, it changes a lot…the Baltic countries can’t be left as they are.” President Zelensky recently stated that Poland and the Baltic states could be next.
NATO must rapidly enhance the security of its eastern flank. In recent days, NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg visited Lithuania to meet German and Lithuanian troops training together in “Exercise Griffen Storm” and stated, NATO must protect “every ally, every inch of NATO” against threats from either Moscow or Minsk. He was joined by Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda and German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius. Noting the exposure of the Baltic countries because of their proximity to Russia, Minister Pistorius announced “Germany is ready to deploy a robust brigade in Lithuania on a permanent basis.”
As the Ukraine war continues, support for the NATO Alliance has never been more important. Please let your Senators know that you want them to show their support for NATO and the Baltic countries by cosponsoring this resolution.
Please join in reaffirming the importance of NATO over the past 74 years and in celebrating the choice of Vilnius, Lithuania as the location of the summit during the 700th anniversary year of the founding of the city of Vilnius.
We urge you to cosponsor this resolution as the security of Ukraine and NATO lies in the balance.
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