Dovilė Šakalienė, Defence Minister of Lithuania: Uncertain times for Europe

BBC Defence Correspondent Jonathan Beale speaks to Dovilė
Šakalienė, Lithuania’s Defence Minister.


The Baltic nation, along with its neighbours Latvia and Estonia,
share a border with Russia, and have nervously watched the
invasion of Ukraine, fearing they could be next.


All three countries have had turbulent relationships with their
much larger neighbour, Russia. They were annexed by the Soviet
Union during the Second World War, and were subject to decades of
rule from Moscow up until the end of the Cold War.


In 2004, Lithuania joined both the European Union and Nato, and
just over a decade later, adopted the Euro as its currency. But
despite looking westwards, the country has always kept one eye on
developments over its eastern border in Russia.


Russia’s annexation of the Ukrainian region of Crimea in 2014 set
off alarm bells in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, and when the
full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia began in 2022, Lithuania
and its neighbours began fearing and preparing for the worst..


Presenter: Jonathan Beale Producer: Ben Cooper Editor: Richard
Fenton-Smith