While the deal on wartime Ukraine aid and border security is stalled in Congress, Baltic leaders warn U.S. lawmakers that time is running short, and they fear the cost of not stopping Russia’s aggression in Ukraine will make NATO allies pay a higher price.
In a recent visit to Washington, speakers of parliament from the Baltic states voiced solidarity with Ukraine and held talks with U.S. lawmakers, including House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson, and officials from the State Department.
The Baltics are among the top contributors of military and financial aid to Ukraine relative to their respective GDPs.
“Despite different views, there is unanimous understanding on the Hill about the need of stopping the war as soon as possible and doing it together,” Daiga Mierina, speaker of Latvia’s Parliament, told VOA during her visit to Washington.
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
VOA: What topics are high on your agenda? What do Baltic leaders want to discuss with American lawmakers?
Daiga Mierina, Latvian Parliament Speaker: Naturally, helping Ukraine is high on the agenda everywhere in the world right now. But if we want to achieve peace, we need to do everything we can. And even more than that, we need to support Ukraine and especially provide military support, because we must understand that every day that we delay making important decisions, people die on the battlefield.
It was very important for us to convey our personal experience and share our personal historical lessons learned. And we think it's very important to deliver this message to the world, and to the U.S. that Russia's aggression will not just stop on its own, it won’t just end on its own. And if we don't stop it now, then we will have to pay an even higher price.
VOA: Media reports say U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson told you there is a chance that aid for Ukraine and U.S. border policy issues will be split as a way to end the deadlock. What was the main takeaway from your meeting with him?
Mierina: We discussed this topic, but every country has its own internal policy issues, which are, of course, very important and very high on its agenda. Yes, we did hear that there are possibilities of various solutions, but we did not discuss concrete strategy of what these solutions could be.
We spoke with senators, with congressmen, and we heard many different views about the possibility of moving forward. But we heard that despite these different outlooks, there was unanimous common understanding that we need to stop war as soon as possible, and we need to do [that] together collectively.
VOA: While many speak about ending the war, Baltic leaders are not shy of talking about ending this war, with Ukraine’s victory as a desirable outcome for them. What does Ukraine’s victory or defeat in this war mean for your country and for the other Baltic States?
Mierina: For many years, we’ve been warning European countries and other countries in the world that Russia poses a threat of aggression. And throughout history, we saw clear signs of this possibility already. Let's just look back at the history that Putin has always used might [force] to achieve his goals. We saw his war in Chechnya. We saw, later, his invasion in Georgia, in Crimea. And in every subsequent attack, Putin's popularity grew. And Putin’s sense that he could accomplish what he wants with might [force] also grew. This created a sense of impunity for Putin and Russia as a whole. Russia felt that it could, indeed, dictate world order, but we need accountability for Russia's deeds.
The three Baltic States have experienced all this firsthand: occupation, genocide, deportation, Russification. We remember this all very well, and we keep reminding the world about Russia's threats and deeds. If we do not stop Russia, it will just keep repeating these things over and over again, and not just in the Baltics but elsewhere, as well.
VOA: You have been a NATO member state for 20 years now. With NATO boots on the ground in the Baltics, are you still concerned about being a possible next target?
Mierina: It is important for the three Baltic States that we do not feel left alone. If we suffer an attack, if we will have to face aggression, we can rely on our allies to help us. But at the same time, we must not just sit around, we must do our own homework. We have created new defense strategies, and we have been doing a lot to boost our own security, too. We truly hope that soon, Sweden will also join NATO and hopefully, Ukraine could also become a NATO member in the future.
VOA: With U.S. and European Union aid related to a number of internal debates, and in the anticipation of a long war, what more do you think Europe can do?
Mierina: I think already European efforts to help Ukraine have increased — many larger European countries have stepped up and changed their attitude. If there were some doubts about sending missiles or other weapons to Ukraine, the rhetoric at the moment has changed. It is clear now that we need decisive, swift action to have a result. We can clearly see that if we delay taking action, war just keeps dragging on.
Importantly, Russia is also a very quick learner. Russia is keeping up with latest developments. It is learning from its own mistakes. I personally visited Ukraine recently, and I heard from the Ukrainians that Russia is even using Ukrainian tactics against Ukraine. It's learning from Ukraine's fight. We must not underestimate Russia.
At this point in time, we should no longer talk about possibilities. We need to talk about concrete steps that we could take, namely development of military industry and weapons production. It would be also very important to use confiscated Russian assets for Ukrainian benefit. And find the best ways to do it.
We are also waging an information war every day, and other countries are experiencing this, because Russians are experts in infiltration. They know how to infiltrate any country. They know how to sell chaos. And they know how to use the Russian-speaking population globally to spread their influence, to influence internal policy activities. And together, all of us need to fight against Russia's evil.
