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Jim Mattis, in Lithuania, Reaffirms U.S. Commitment to NATO Jim Mattis, in Lithuania, Reaffirms U.S. Commitment to NATO
(about 9 hours later)
VILNIUS, Lithuania — Defense Secretary Jim Mattis traveled to the eastern edge of the NATO alliance on Wednesday to pledge American solidarity with the Baltic nations, but he stopped short of giving his hosts in Lithuania what they wanted: a commitment to base Patriot missile-defense systems in the region. PABRADE, Lithuania — If a shooting war ever breaks out between Russia and the NATO alliance, it could well be in a place like Pabrade, a little town near the edge of a little nation. But a different sort of conflict, waged with bytes rather than bullets, is already being fought here.
With Russia adopting an increasingly assertive stance, Lithuania and its two Baltic neighbors, Latvia and Estonia, were among those most rattled by comments from President Trump that the NATO alliance was “obsolete” and by his suggestion that the United States might protect only countries that had “fulfilled their obligations to us.” Jim Mattis, the American secretary of defense, visited this Lithuanian town on Wednesday to see how NATO is faring in that fight, and his guide was a German officer who has been a target in that war, falsely accused of being a rapist and a Russian spy.
Mr. Mattis offered some reassurance. “Have no doubt that we stand with you united in a common cause,” he said while standing beside President Dalia Grybauskaite of Lithuania at a brief news conference at the presidential palace as unseasonable snow flurries blanketed the country. “What’s the spirit of your troops?” Mr. Mattis asked, walking past camouflaged tanks as soldiers with green-painted faces stood at attention.
In her remarks, Ms. Grybauskaite described Mr. Mattis as “a good friend of Lithuania.” He was assured by his guide, Lt. Col. Christoph Huber, commander of the German battalion that recently took up station here, that morale could not be higher.
“He understands the threats facing us,” she said. “We can trust him.” Colonel Huber and his soldiers have been the subjects of two recent cyberattacks: false claims of wrongdoing that officials believe were put in circulation by an increasingly aggressive Russian intelligence operation that is meant to sow doubts and resentment of NATO’s growing presence in the Baltics.
During his confirmation hearings, Mr. Mattis described NATO as essential, but he has subsequently said that the amount of American support for the alliance could depend on whether other countries meet their spending commitments. The first attack came on Feb. 14. Emails sent to the president of the Lithuanian Parliament and various local news media outlets falsely claimed that German soldiers had raped a girl. The story rippled through the country before the police determined that it was untrue.
President Vladimir V. Putin’s actions in Ukraine and elsewhere have left the Baltic nations deeply uneasy and have compelled them to call on NATO to fortify its defenses against a possible Russian invasion. A few weeks later, another series of emails circulated with what seemed to be photos of Colonel Huber among a group of Russian partisans. The photos were faked.
Prominent Americans, including Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, have visited the Baltics in recent months to offer their reassurances, but Mr. Mattis’s visit was the most eagerly awaited. Then, in early April, came a phony story about a supposed chemical assault on American troops in nearby Estonia, which appeared mysteriously on a popular Lithuanian news site.
Mr. Mattis repeated the United States’ “ironclad” commitment to the defense of its allies. “NATO stands visible and indivisible in the face of any threat,” he said. How did it feel to be the target of these attacks? Colonel Huber shrugged.
A German battalion recently arrived in Lithuania as part of a NATO plan to bolster its eastern defenses, but Lithuanians, while happy to have them, want a permanent United States military presence. “We don’t know for sure who was behind it,” he said, bundled up against an unseasonable spring snowfall that was blanketing the country. “But we take everything in the information environment quite seriously.”
A company of American soldiers has been training in Lithuania for months. They are scheduled to leave in June, and Lithuania had expressed hope that Mr. Mattis would announce plans to keep them in the country. He did not. Darius Jauniskis, director general of Lithuania’s intelligence agency, said that part of the country’s response to the incidents had been to openly discuss Russia’s efforts to undermine the NATO mission in the country.
Many Lithuanians were also hoping that Mr. Mattis would bolster air defenses by stationing a Patriot missile battery in the country. NATO is expected to conduct a large air defense exercise in Lithuania in July, and Pentagon officials have said that a Patriot battery could be moved into the region as part of that exercise. Even if that happens, however, it’s unclear whether the defense system would stay. “We cannot remain silent and say everything’s all right,” Mr. Jauniskis said in an interview in a windowless conference room in his agency’s headquarters in Vilnius, the capital. “We need to talk about that, so that the people and leaders know the threats are real.”
Mr. Mattis, in response to a question about the Patriot missiles, said any decision to deploy the system would be made in consultation with the Lithuanian government. “The specific systems that we bring are those that we determine are necessary,” he said. Mr. Jauniskis and other Baltic leaders have been warning their counterparts in the West for several years about the growing menace they saw from Russia. Their warnings were often dismissed as alarmist. But after the apparent Russian efforts to influence elections in the United States, France and elsewhere, no one needs convincing any more.
Ms. Grybauskaite made clear that Lithuanians would welcome such a deployment. “We need all necessary means for defense and for deterrence,” she said. “We can’t be glad that we were right all along,” said Raimundas Karoblis, the Lithuanian defense minister. “It’s not always comfortable to remind people we’ve been telling them about the Russians for years.”
The Russians have been bolstering their own forces in the region and recently deployed nuclear-capable Iskander ballistic missiles to Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave between Lithuania and Poland. Part of Mr. Mattis’s reason for visiting the Baltic region was to reassure allies who were rattled when President Trump said the NATO alliance was “obsolete” and suggested that the United States might only protect countries that had “fulfilled their obligations to us.”
Russian air and naval forces have aggressively patrolled the region in recent months, further rattling nerves. For some, Russia’s annexation of Crimea and military intervention in eastern Ukraine have confirmed fears about Mr. Putin’s goal of re-establishing Russian dominance in the region. Standing with President Dalia Grybauskaite of Lithuania at the presidential palace on Wednesday, Mr. Mattis said, “Have no doubt that we stand with you united in a common cause.”
Ms. Grybauskaite described Mr. Mattis as “a good friend of Lithuania,” saying that “he understands the threats facing us” and that “we can trust him.”
During his Senate confirmation hearings, Mr. Mattis described the NATO alliance as essential. But he has also said since then that the amount of American support for the alliance could depend on whether other member countries meet their commitments on military spending. In that regard, the Baltic nations “rightly stand as an example for all NATO allies,” Mr. Mattis said, because they have rapidly expanded their military budgets.
The actions of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia in Ukraine and elsewhere have left the Baltic nations deeply uneasy, prompting them to call on NATO to fortify its defenses against a possible Russian invasion. The alliance responded by stationing four additional battalions in the region, one in each of the three Baltic nations and one in Poland.
A parade of prominent Americans, including Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, have visited the Baltics in recent months to offer reassurances, but Mr. Mattis’s visit was the most eagerly awaited.
“It’s a historic visit,” said Mr. Karoblis, the defense minister.
He and other Lithuanian officials said they were hoping for a promise from Mr. Mattis for a permanent American military presence and a Patriot missile battery to bolster the country’s air and antimissile defenses.
The alliance is expected to conduct a large air defense exercise in Lithuania in July, and Pentagon officials have said that a Patriot battery could be moved into the region as part of that exercise, but that the deployment may be temporary.
Mr. Mattis was asked by a reporter about the Patriot missiles, but said only that “the specific systems that we bring are those that we determine are necessary,” and that decisions would be made in consultation with the Lithuanian government. President Grybauskaite made clear that Lithuanians would welcome such a deployment. “We need all necessary means for defense and for deterrence,” she said.
The Russians have been strengthening their own forces in the region, and recently deployed nuclear-capable Iskander ballistic missiles to Kaliningrad, a detached wedge of Russian territory between Lithuania and Poland.
Russian air and naval forces have aggressively patrolled the region in recent months, further rattling nerves. For some in the Baltics, Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its military intervention in eastern Ukraine confirmed fears that Mr. Putin wants to re-establish Russian dominance in the Baltics; the online and propaganda efforts that preceded those Russian moves are seen as further proof.
The nightmare that keeps officials up at night in the Baltics is that Russia manages to disguise an invasion with a barrage of cyberattacks and fake news.
“Other countries now see Russia’s cyberattacks as a problem, and that’s good,” said Eitvydas Bajarunas, a Lithuanian diplomat who coordinates the government’s responses to what it calls “hybrid” threats. “But it’s an existential threat for the Baltics.”