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“I think there’s a huge risk that everything I’ve worked on in Lithuania and built for 20 years and everything Lithuania has worked on for 30 years can just be destroyed in a day,” says Harold in the interview, describing the current moment, as Russia’s war on Ukraine approaches the third winter.
That kind of real talk became a staple of Landsbergis's – and Lithuania's – international voice. To point at the elephant in the room. To remind the international community that “things are not going well” and we must do more.
Landsbergis and Kaja Kallas, a former Prime Minister of Estonia, now Vice-President of the European Commission, became vocal Baltic diplomats, advocating for a tougher stance against the Kremlin and greater support for Ukraine's defense.
Their voices proved to be much needed. Landsbergis's account gained more than 100,000 followers in less than two years. His tweets were read, as Harold informs, by Anthony Blinken, the US Secretary of State.
“I’m an immigrant, I love Lithuania. I chose to come here and chose to stay here. My future is very much dependent on Lithuania’s future.”
Did it all make any difference?
“I know it would be worse if we didn’t do this,” – Harold argues. “I don’t know if that made any major changes in any decisions. But I presume we had influence. We see thousands – literally, thousands – comments from Ukrainians, from Georgians, thanking, thumbs upping and putting on the Lithuanian flag. Maybe we didn’t change Biden’s mind. But I think we were a big part in keeping the morale going in Ukraine. We know from Ukrainians that if they see a foreign country supporting them, it means the world to them. And we did that more than anybody else.”
As we are publishing this episode, the new government in Lithuania has been sworn in. Despite international recognition, Gabrielius Landsbergis found few fans at home, illustrating the gap between international and local politics.
His party Homeland Union, and he individually, lost the second round of parliamentary elections. Landsbergis stepped down as chairman of the party and gave up the seat in Lithuania's parliament. His last tweet as a minister received 22,000 likes.
Hear the full interview in the podcast episode.
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