WASHINGTON – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuanian are counting on NATO for protection if Russia, their neighbor, targets them, ambassadors for the Baltic nations told Fox News in separate interviews while emphasizing the importance of continued support to Ukraine.
Smoke rises after an explosion in Kyiv on March 16, 2022, one of several blasts that rocked the capital, according to AFP journalists. (Aris Messinis/AFP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin "is [in] a war that he is waging in our almost neighboring country – [a] "country and people, which we know very well, which are very dear friends to us," Latvian Ambassador Māris Selga told Fox News.
Māris Selga, Latvian ambassador to the United States (Fox News Digital)
Lithuanian Ambassador Audra Plepytė told Fox News: "It's unbelievable [this is] happening in the 21st century."
The three Baltic states, which the Soviet Union occupied for 60 years, have warned the international community of the Russia threat for decades.
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During the occupation, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania lost millions of its citizens to Soviet-sanctioned executions and forced deportations.
"We have very little illusions when it comes to Russian imperialism and what this may mean for countries in its vicinity," Estonian Ambassador Kristjan Prikk told Fox News during an interview in the embassy’s temporary office in downtown Washington.
Kristjan Prikk, Estonian ambassador to the United States (Fox News Digital)
All three countries joined NATO in 2004. The ambassadors told Fox News that Article 5 of NATO, which effectively states that an attack against one member nation is an attack on all, gives them and their citizens assurances that they will be protected if attacked.
NATO is a "crucial security guarantee for us, no doubt," said Plepytė, whose home country of Lithuania borders Russia to the west. To the east is Belarus, a close Moscow ally that's been instrumental in the siege against Ukraine.
"The article 5 changes our life and our security perception and our defense and security," Plepytė told Fox News.
Audra Plepytė, Lithuanian ambassador to the United States (Fox News Digital)
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Selga said his country won't face an invasion like Ukraine since Latvia is part of both NATO and the European Union. Ukraine isn't part of either body, but sought NATO membership before the siege.
Since the invasion, Russia has been subjected to significant economic sanctions. Last week, President Biden called for an end to normal trade relations and announced a ban on Russian oil and gas imports.
Selga, who came to Washington from his previous post as Latvia’s ambassador to China, told Fox News the unified response to Russia’s war has probably been "quite surprising for President Putin and his comrades around him."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy virtually addressed Congress on Wednesday and requested more military aid and additional sanctions against Russia. He also reiterated his request for a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks in Kyiv on Wednesday, March 16, 2022. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)
"We have been working with Ukraine and providing the assistance already for four years, especially after the Crimea war, and we will be providing them military assistance," Plepytė told Fox News.
Prikk said: "Estonia has been very forward leaning when it comes to supporting Ukraine with the kind of assistance that we're that we're able to do. We've delivered anti-tank missiles, we've delivered them air defense ammunition, medical supplies, meals ready to eat … and other lethal and non-lethal aid that they may need."
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"We think that all the West should continue with that as long as Ukraine needs it," he continued.
Western intelligence reports had estimated before the invasion that Putin could take Kyiv within 72 hours. But the capital remained under Ukrainian control as of Wednesday morning, which marked nearly three weeks since the war began.
Ukrainian soldiers and firefighters search a destroyed building after a bombing attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, March 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
"Ukraine is resisting very, very hard, and we believe that Russia has thoroughly miscalculated its options and the response that the Ukrainians have come up with," said Prikk, who served for three years as the permanent secretary of the Estonian Ministry of Defense prior to assuming his post in Washington.
Even though the Baltic nations are different in many ways, they have a shared history, especially with Russia. The ambassadors said that gives them a special bond.
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We "are three fantastic small countries, neighboring countries with very similar, let's say, history during the last century," Selga said.
Plepytė told Fox News the three nations "always feel very close." She said this latest instance of Russian aggression will lead to an even stronger relationship.
"We are very firmly together with our neighboring countries, but also the rest of EU, and NATO countries standing against it," Prikk said. "After all, this is about the fight between autocratic and democratic worlds."
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