While much of Europe faces uncertainty regarding its relationship to the United States, Lithuania’s Ambassador to the U.S., Audra Plepytė, argued that Vilnius has remained one of Washington’s closest allies.
In her final interview with an American outlet while ambassador, Plepytė reflected on her four years as Lithuania’s foremost representative to its most important ally. She’s served in the position through some of the most turbulent times since Lithuania declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1990.
“Dramatically and drastically,” Plepytė replied when asked how the world and her role had changed since assuming the ambassadorship in May 2021.
She came to Washington at a time of crisis for Lithuania — Vilnius was battling what it labeled as weaponized immigration from Belarus. Minsk is believed to have drawn in immigrants from embattled countries such as Syria and Iraq, then expelled them across its land borders with Poland and Lithuania to overwhelm them.
“We fought back. We didn’t allow that migration. And we not only fought back, but we also put the fence on our border,” Plepytė said of Vilnius’s response, boasting that it took less than a year to construct the entire border wall.
The experience went beyond just Lithuania — she said she believes the episode changed the European Union’s attitude towards immigration as a whole, pushing it to acknowledge “that migration can be a hybrid attack, or hybrid instrument from other countries.”
Lithuania’s importance as part of NATO reached its zenith the following year, when Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. The war shocked the Baltic nation, especially due to its border with Russia.
Lithuania joined its Baltic neighbors in becoming one of the most active supporters of Ukraine.
Lithuania saw the “United States as one of the allies who stands for freedom and can support Ukraine,” Plepytė said.
She was also an ambassador when the U.S. conducted a dramatic shift towards Ukraine, going from a staunch ally to a more neutral mediator under Presidents Joe Biden to Donald Trump. While she conceded that Vilnius believed the Biden administration’s approach was more aligned with its immediate stance, with military support going “sooner and bigger” at the beginning of the war, she also stressed commonalities between her and Trump’s position.
“What we heard from President Trump and his administration is peace through strength, that could [work] as well. The U.S. under President Trump is a strong leader, is very vocal… It is he who can stop and reach this long-lasting peace,” she said.
While the change of the U.S.’s position has been jarring to many NATO countries, Plepytė denied that there was any clashing between Vilnius and Washington over Ukraine.
“No, I wouldn’t say that it clashes,” she answered when asked if the two positions ever clash, saying different countries can support Ukraine in different ways.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth singled out Lithuania, along with the other Baltic countries, Gulf countries, Israel, and Poland, as model U.S. allies in a May speech.
The affection for Lithuania from the Trump administration stems from its aggressive defense spending. Lithuania has one of the highest proportions of defense spending relative to Gross Domestic Product, standing at 3.9%, compared to the 2.5% target. Vilnius recently committed to boosting this to 5.5% by 2026, exceeding Trump’s updated target of 5%.
“We are on the eastern front line of NATO, of the whole Alliance. So we will do everything possible that this front line is well protected and there is not any leakage,” Plepytė said. “And because we think… if you want to avoid war, you have to prepare. So the best deterrence is, you invest heavily.”
Since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, the Baltic countries have taken steps that appear to be those of countries preparing for a war. Last month, the Baltic governments met to coordinate a mass evacuation plan in the event of war, possibly spurred by fears over Zapad 2025, a large joint Russian-Belarusian military exercise.
Plepytė downplayed concerns over a possible invasion when asked, saying the recent moves were all about deterrence.
“I wouldn’t say concerned about invasion, but we see how Russia is preparing for war and how its economy… It’s a war economy. About 30% of this economy is functioning, working for the purpose of war… and will surpass what they would need for Ukraine,” she answered.
“So I think that’s why we shouldn’t take easily to Russia. We cannot underestimate, and the alliance should be very strong and serious about deterrence and protecting itself,” Plepytė added, saying that to have peace with Russia, NATO must remain strong.
She also justified Vilnius’s controversial move regarding the Ottawa Treaty banning landmines, saying “geopolitical realities” forced the move.
Plepytė stressed the importance of Lithuania’s history, relating it to how it has changed the country’s position throughout time.
Lithuania occupies a unique position in European and, by extension, global history. In the 15th century, it was the largest state in Europe. It reached its zenith under its first Christian Grand Duke, Vytautas the Great, ruling over all of modern-day Belarus, most of Ukraine, and parts of Russia.
Its position deteriorated throughout the centuries as the junior partner of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, disappearing as an independent entity altogether with the partitions of Poland by the close of the 18th century. It emerged once again in the chaos of the Russian Civil War, earning independence in 1918 before being annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940.
Despite its old roots, Lithuania’s identity and survival have been fundamentally shaped by the U.S. While the Soviet Union largely suppressed aspects of Lithuania’s culture, it flowered among the emigre community in the U.S. After glasnost, Lithuanian American activists played a key role in destabilizing the Soviet Union by sending material and ideological support back to their ancestral home country.
According to historian Vladislav Zubok, the reveal of a secret provision in the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact between the USSR and Nazi Germany handing the Baltics over to Moscow was a massive ideological blow to the USSR as a whole, triggering a crisis of identity.
Due in no small part to U.S. support, Lithuania became the first Soviet Republic to declare independence on March 11, 1990.
In Plepytė’s recounting, the U.S. served as a beacon of hope for Lithuanians under Soviet occupation.
“The United States for us was, throughout the 20th century, the biggest ally… and beacon of hope for freedom and everything,” she said. “So I think this pro-American attitude will follow us for centuries.”
Plepytė also recounted the story of the Lithuanian Embassy itself, where the interview was conducted. It was first opened as the Republic of Lithuania’s Embassy in 1922. Uniquely among the embassies of nations absorbed by the Soviet Union, the diplomats refused to recognize the new government installed by the Soviets in 1940. The U.S. adopted a non-recognition policy for the new government as well, keeping the diplomats in an embassy for the exiled government for 50 years.
“We were occupied by the Soviet Union for 50 years, but here, due to the American non-recognition policy of our occupation, our diplomats worked during this occupation as a Lithuanian diplomat, worked together with the U.S. administration, fighting for our freedom and the freedom for other occupied countries,” she said.
“And it is said when you are on the right side of history, you always win. So the Lithuanian experience, I think, also shows that the U.S. policy and strong support to us was the right one, because now we are not only independent, we one of the most flourishing, economically, strongest countries in Europe and the biggest ally of the United States,” Plepytė added.
She said that in intra-E.U. debates regarding its stance toward Washington, Lithuania is among the leaders of the pro-U.S. camp.
The uniquely close relationship between the U.S. and Lithuania was illustrated in a March accident, when four U.S. soldiers were killed after their armored vehicle sank into a bog during a training exercise. The accident drew an outpouring of support and sympathy from Lithuanians, a welcome development for Washington, contrasting with the sometimes frosty relationship with the rest of Europe over the past several months.
“I think it showed what Lithuanians feel and think about America and American troops. Because when this accident came, when the U.S. troops were exercising, [support] was not only from the Lithuanian government, our army, but from the oldest civilian people, from all the people, the whole Lithuania was following and trying to help and to make everything possible that American soldiers would be rescued. And then saying thank you and farewell to them. Because it’s that’s from our heart, how we see America and what kind of allies we are,” Plepytė said.
As for Lithuania’s stance among its neighbors, she described its relationship with the other Baltic countries as that of a family.
“But we also, as in the family, sometimes compete. So if one country advances somewhere, we say, that’s good. But we also have to do that. So it’s a very good competition, which drives us as well, further and up. So we are very happy to be in that and to have such strong and good allies,” she said.
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One of those recent accomplishments was a flex of Baltic soft power in the U.S. Flow, a critically acclaimed Latvian movie about a cat and his animal friends escaping a flood, won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. Plepytė welcomed the development.
“It’s a good benchmark, what to reach for and what to watch,” she answered with a laugh, when asked if Lithuania could follow with an Oscar win of its own soon.