Russia’s imitation of negotiations initiative “tactical trick” - Nauseda

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda believes Russia could be imitating the initiative of truce negotiations with Ukraine in order to buy some time in the ongoing war, adding that the move is part of the Kremlin’s "tactical tricks".

The president expressed his opinion in a comment to Delfi, Ukrinform reports.

"Russia will take advantage of this time to get back on its feet and strike again, with new force," Nauseda said.

When asked whether the West, observing the deterioration of the situation in Ukraine, would express willingness to sit down with the aggressor state, Nauseda noted that only the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, and his team are entitled to conduct such talks.

"Ukraine should have the final say on whether to launch talks. A country that has sacrificed so much and lost so much has the first moral right to decide itself whether it should launch negotiations, and on what terms. No one else has a decisive vote in this regard," the Lithuanian president emphasized.

According to Nauseda, if the battlefield situation does not change in the coming months, the war will become long, exhausting, and positional.

"In fact, it already is. We hoped that Ukraine's counteroffensive would change things. Now we will return to the status quo, it will again become positional and exhausting. Then the losses on both sides will be calculated and, in the end, they will wait until one of the countries reaches the point where it can no longer wage war," said the head of Lithuania.

In his opinion, the fight between the two countries will keep developing as Russia will try to seize the initiative, and Ukraine will resist as much as possible. However, Nauseda disagrees with the suggestion that Ukraine will lose the war if Russia succeeds in penetrating the current defense lines.

"Russia, of course, can mobilize resources without heeding to the opinion of its own people – mobilize people and channel all resources for military purposes. The possibilities of other states are more limited, simply because they are democratic societies. These are all existing factors, but I repeat once again – it is not about Ukraine being defeated, it is about a war scenario that is not beneficial for Ukraine," Nauseda said.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, Nauseda previously stated that the likelihood of Western support to Ukraine being brought to a halt remains very small, but if that happens, Russia will be more likely to invader Lithuania and go into war with NATO.