With large-scale Russian and Belarusian military manoeuvres about to take place on the borders of the Baltic states, the American Vice President, Mike Pence, provided the NATO members and candidate countries of Eastern Europe with reassurances, during a visit to the region this week.
Speaking from Podgorica, where he concluded his tour on Wednesday 2 August, Pence said that “the future of the Western Balkans is in the West”, hailing Montenegro’s accession to NATO on 5 July an “historic achievement” and pledging US commitment to strengthening ties with the countries of the region.
At a dinner in Podgorica, Pence said that his trip was “testament to the fact that America has no small allies – only strong allies” and commended the Balkan states on their “courage, particularly in the face of Russian pressure”, the news agency AFP reported on Wednesday.
Pence was to attend the summit of the countries of the Adriatic Charter in Podgorica on Wednesday afternoon - the United States, Croatia, Albania, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Bosnia & Herzegovina and Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo with observer status. The Adriatic Charter, which was signed in 2003 under the aegis of the US, aims to help the countries of the region in joining NATO.
Pence’s Eastern European tour aimed to demonstrate American support for its allies in the region, rattled by Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its support for a separatist rebellion in eastern Ukraine.
In Tbilisi on Tuesday 1 August, Pence defended the principle of the territorial integrity of Georgia and condemned the Russian occupation of part of Georgian territory since a brief war in 2008 and Moscow’s recognition of the independence of the pro-Russian separatist republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Georgia, which is not a NATO member, has been attempting to join since 2008.
Pence also pledged that the American President, Donald Trump, was shortly to sign off new sanctions adopted by the American Congress against Russia.
In Tallinn on Monday 31 July, Pence took pains to provide the presidents of the three Baltic states - Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, all of which are members of NATO - with reassurances of support against the Russian threat, stressing that an attack against any of them would be an attack on all of NATO. The US Vice President went on to stress that the Russian response to sanctions voted through by Congress - the expulsion of 755 members of the US representation to Moscow - would do nothing to shake the country’s commitment to the security of the region.
Finally, Pence said that the US also intended to help the Baltic countries with supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG), the first shipments of which will reach Lithuania in August. They will not be the last and this will contribute to the security of the region, he said, adding that reducing dependency on Russian gas should be an objective for these countries. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)