The Baltic States insist on including Ukraine in the European Union as soon as possible

VILNA, Jun 7 (DPA/EP) -

The president of Lithuania, Gitanas Nauseda, has insisted this Tuesday on the need to include Ukraine within the European Union, as he has been doing together with the rest of his Baltic neighbors since the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, started to the invasion on February 24.

"An important political message that we must send as soon as possible is to grant Ukraine the status of a candidate for the EU. It is time to make it clear that Ukraine belongs to the European Union", Nauseda emphasized, taking advantage of the visit of the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz.

"We have no moral right to miss this occasion. Ukraine defends this right with its blood," Nauseda stressed after meeting with Scholz and the prime ministers of Latvia and Estonia, Krisjanis Karins and Kaja Kallas, respectively.

"We, the Baltic countries, especially Latvia, still know very well how a positive signal was sent to us from the EU. And how this signal, the future accession to the EU, has triggered fruitful reforms", recalled Karins.

Scholz has chosen not to comment on an issue that the Baltic countries have made one of their main foreign policies since Russia invaded Ukraine. Together with Poland, the three have presented themselves as the main guarantees for kyiv's accession.

During his visit to Lithuania this Tuesday, Chancellor Scholz visited the detachments of the German forces deployed on Lithuanian soil and in turn promised Nauseada a new deployment of troops and his commitment that they will defend "every centimeter of NATO territory "if your partners are attacked.

In this sense, Nauseda has highlighted that the three Baltic neighbors are "at the forefront of NATO" so reinforcing the security of their territories seems key "for the security of the entire Alliance", bearing in mind that with Russia, that "terrorist state", does not fit "any dialogue or cooperation".