Gitanas Nausėda, President of Lithuania, noted that while the United Nations was never perfect, “it was the best international order we ever had”.  Voicing concern over the slow erosion of the international order, he recalled that this is not the first time it has happened.  The events of 1938 are a striking parallel — when the world chose appeasement over diplomacy and deterrence, producing the Munich Pact.  The agreement emboldened the Nazi regime to expand but also provided a path for Soviet expansion through the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, which would carve Europe into spheres of influence, leaving Lithuania and other Baltic States illegally occupied or annexed.  “In 1938, it was Czechoslovakia that was abandoned.  Today, we cannot abandon Ukraine alone,” he emphasized.

With the war in Ukraine well into its fourth year, the international community must do more to stop the aggressor.  “If one UN member is attacked with impunity year after year by a permanent member of the Security Council, what does that mean for the rest of us?” he asked.  The Russian Federation’s war against Ukraine, starting with Moscow’s illegal occupation of Crimea in 2014, has sparked energy, migration and food security crises worldwide.  In Ukraine, the targeting of civilian infrastructure and deportation of children are pervasive — calculated efforts to erase Ukraine’s identity in open defiance of the UN Charter.  “Lithuania will never recognize Russia’s illegal occupation and annexation of Ukrainian lands.  Ukraine’s borders are not up for negotiation, and attempts to redraw them by force are unacceptable,” he stressed, recalling that the Russian Federation also continues to occupy two regions in Georgia, is destabilizing Moldova and uses proxies to spread instability in the Sahel.

Those countries enabling the Russian Federation’s war against Ukraine violate international law, he said, urging the international community to maintain strong support — political, military, humanitarian and economic — for Ukraine.  For its part, Lithuania has already provided 1 billion Euros in assistance.  He also called on the international community to cease buying Russian energy resources to stop its war machine.  “This is a country that understands only the language of force.  Ukraine’s ability to deter aggression will be the decisive factor in the future,” he said, calling for accountability for Moscow’s war crimes, including mass killings and the deportation and indoctrination of children.  His country also supports the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression under the Council of Europe, he said, pressing all States to lend their support to it.  “Accountability must have real consequences — legal, political and financial,” he said, noting that Lithuania is the co-founder of the Register of Damage for Ukraine.  With other eligible States’ support, the Russian Federation’s frozen assets will be used to help Ukraine defend itself and rebuild.

Turning to the situation in the Middle East, he said Lithuania has joined the international call for the immediate implementation of the Gaza ceasefire with the entry of humanitarian aid into the Strip.  The unconditional release of all Israeli hostages remains a crucial step, he said, adding that there is no alternative but to revitalize a process towards a two-State solution.  Amid uncertainty, “either we will repeat the mistakes of history, or we will find the resolve to defend the core principles of the United Nations”, he said.  The United Nations must return to its founding purpose — “to prevent the scourge of war, to protect human dignity and to uphold the rights of nations large and small”. “Together, we must ensure that no permanent seat on the Security Council grants any State permanent impunity,” he concluded.