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Vytautas Landsbergis: The BelNPP Is the Kremlin’s Project

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Vytautas Landsbergis: The BelNPP Is the Kremlin’s Project
Vytautas Landsbergis
Photo: DELFI / Domantas Pipas

The first head of Lithuania believes that the construction site for the NPP in Astravets is not a random choice.

The Parliament of Lithuania presented a memorandum on the need to unite and put up civil resistance to the threat of the Belarusian-Russian NPP both from Lithuania and the entire European Union. At a press conference, the first actual head of independent Lithuania, Vytautas Landsbergis, said he was convinced that the NPP in Astravets was the Kremlin's project aimed to expand and punish Lithuania for its independence, writes Delfi.

"Is Lithuania aware of the threat? Is the necessity to express an active attitude universal? These questions are raised by the signatories of the memorandum," said Landsbergis.

According to the professor, not everyone has a clear awareness of the memorandum on such an existential issue for Lithuania.

"The treat posed falls beyond the geographical borders. First of all, we must see the position we take. It's the position of self-defence. Lithuania and the EU have been attacked and you are either defending yourself or not," the professor said.

He believes that there was a reason for the Kremlin to develop this situation with Astravets NPP.

"The situation created by the Kremlin's project is an attempt to bolster self-esteem, expand its political influence and punish Lithuania for its independence. It was obvious when, out of 8 proposed and much more suitable sites, the Kremlin chose the site near Vilnius," said Landsbergis.

According to him, the Astravets NPP is a threat to the future of Lithuania and its people.

"There are two aspects: the threat and the dirty act. It's the threat to our country, our future, the future of our children. The threat is a threat and it is naive to comfort yourself that we are still alive. We are already dying by accepting this. But we should not. Both the threat and the dirty act are imposed on Lithuania against its will, even without discussion," he said, stressing that it is inhumane.

Landsbergis stresses the significance of citizens' responsibility when the state faces such threats.

"The state means not only institutions to shift responsibility on. It is also the citizens... Citizens must be active," said Landsbergis.

He said that the resistance to Astravets NPP should be voiced in the society. The state should not interfere with this.

"If the state decides to defend itself and not only imitate self-protection, it will not bother to establish anti-Astravets committees or other structures," said the professor.

On Wednesday, Lithuanian public figures and a member of the faction SO-CDL, Ambassador Zygimantas Pavilenis, presented the memorandum of peaceful resistance in the conference hall in Parliament. They announced the need for self-defence of Lithuania and the EU in the face of the Russian-Belarusian NPP threat.

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