Lithuania dismisses claims NATO ex-chief considered Baltic buffer zone as disinformation

VILNIUS - Lithuanian presidential national security aide Deividas Matulionis dismissed as "typical disinformation" claims that NATO’s former chief had considered turning the Baltic states into a "buffer zone" for Russia in 2021.

"I can say immediately that this is routine disinformation. (...) At the end of 2021, the Russians indeed presented those so-called ultimatums to both NATO and the United States. (...) The ultimatums were extremely crude, and one of the aspects was to withdraw all allied forces from new NATO members that joined after 1997. This would have affected 12 states. This was Russia's ultimatum; it was presented to us, we saw it, and there was not even a discussion about it," Matulionis told LRT radio on Friday.

His comments follow a review published by the news portal The Baltic Sentinel of former NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg's autobiography. The review focuses on a chapter in which the former alliance chief recalls a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in autumn 2021.

According to the review, Stoltenberg says in the book that despite knowing of opposition from the Baltic states and Poland, he suggested to Lavrov that the NATO-Russia Council discuss the Kremlin's idea of creating a buffer zone near its borders and withdrawing allied forces from the eastern flank to pre-1997 positions.

The publication characterised these actions as an admission by Stoltenberg of betraying the Baltic states behind their backs.

However, the book does not specifically mention the withdrawal of forces from countries that became NATO members after 1997.

Matulionis emphasised that Russia's demands were strictly rejected.

"We had a preparatory meeting of the North Atlantic Council before the NATO-Russia Council meeting (...) and the NATO Secretary General said there very clearly and categorically that this was unacceptable because it would be equivalent to NATO's capitulation," he said.

According to the presidential aide, Stoltenberg's conversations with Lavrov did not mean the NATO chief found the Kremlin's ideas acceptable.

"Talking does not mean he considered or thought it was acceptable. (...) This was Russia's dream, for NATO to take this decision. Stoltenberg agreed to talk (...) there was still some naive belief that the Russians might not take military action against Ukraine," Matulionis said.

"The four countries or the 12 countries that would have been affected would certainly not have approved such a decision. Decisions within NATO are made on a consensus basis, so this is a manufactured bubble, perhaps useful to Russia itself to show that such discussions actually took place within NATO," he added.

In the book, Stoltenberg writes: "I argued in favour of new meetings of the NATO-Russia Council, in order to discuss, among other matters, the proposed buffer zones. I knew that member nations such as Poland and the Baltic states were strongly opposed to the establishment of such zones, as they believed it would make it harder to defend their territories. But at the same time, I knew that NATO and Russia had previously managed to agree on geographical military limitations. If it was balanced and recast, it might help to ease the tensions."

The so-called buffer zone refers to part of Moscow's 2021 ultimatum to NATO: halting any further eastward expansion (specifically Ukrainian membership), banning any alliance military activity in Ukraine, Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus and Central Asia, and withdrawing all NATO forces and weaponry from countries that joined the alliance after 1997.

NATO rejected these conditions as contrary to the essence of the alliance.

Shortly thereafter, Kremlin forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Responding to the publication, Linas Linkevicius, Lithuania's ambassador to Sweden and former foreign minister, said he does not recall Stoltenberg ever unofficially considering giving the Baltic states to Russia as a "buffer zone".

"I can only confirm that he constantly and persistently spoke about the necessity of dialogue with Russia. He spoke about this constantly and regularly during internal discussions. Generally, he was always cautious but firm and correct," Linkevicius wrote on Facebook on Friday.

"Even if he had such intentions, they had no chance of even reaching the alliance's agenda. (...) The Secretary General does not lead the alliance; he represents it at the international level, moderates discussions, and chairs meetings. He has no vote in decision-making - only the representatives and ambassadors of the member states vote and decide," he stated.