In 1938, Hitler annexed part of Czechoslovakia to Germany as his military ambitions grew, culminating in the outbreak of World War II. Putin, meanwhile, has waged war on Ukraine since 2014, illegally annexing the Crimean peninsula and then attempting to capture swathes of Ukrainian territory during a full-scale invasion that began in 2022.
Nausėda’s comments came as Putin claimed — yet again— that the Kremlin is “ready” for nuclear war with the West.
The Lithuanian president told the audience it would be a “fundamental mistake” to believe that Moscow can be “appeased” by conceding territory.
He is not alone in his warnings.
Top officials from Western countries have been ringing alarm bells over Putin’s imperialist ambitions, which they fear might stretch beyond Ukraine. Warsaw’s mayor on Wednesday announced a new plan to allocate 117 million zlotys (€27 million) to build bomb shelters and other security measures in the next two to three years.
Nausėda urged leaders to take the threat of Russian expansion seriously and “stop drawing red lines for ourselves.” He praised French President Emmanuel Macron’s controversial remarks that Western troops on the ground in Ukraine should not be “ruled out.”