Lithuanian President-elect Nauseda considers Russia an ‘aggressor country’
In an interview with BBC Lithuanian President-elect Gitanas Nausėda said that he believes Russia is an "aggressor country" because of the "annexation" of Crimea and their actions in Eastern Ukraine.
"This is unacceptable. My policy toward Russia is not going to change. It is hardly possible to maintain warm relations with the country, which, unfortunately, is now an aggressor towards Ukraine," said the elected President Nausėda.
However, he does not believe that these two peoples should abandon their mutual contacts.
"People need to communicate, share experiences. I would like to see more performances of beautiful Russian theatre and classical music in Lithuania," said Nausėda.
Also, the Lithuanian President said that he does not consider the Russian language as a part of geopolitics and is ready to communicate with journalists in Russian, although many politicians from Baltics wouldn't do that " as a mater of principle."
In the second round of elections of the President of Lithuania, independent candidate Gitanas Nausėda received two-thirds of the votes, although he came to politics from the banking sector. He has received 130 thousand euros for his election campaign from private donors.
Gitanas Nausėda is known in his country as an economist.Hhe was a member of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania, he was the chief economist of SEB Bank, and he has also actively commented the economic issues in the media. Since the time he was studying in Germany in the early 1990s, he believes in the ideas of the free market and liberal economy. He believes that social differentiation in Lithuania will not disappear with economic growth; therefore, Nausėda supports progressive taxes and the active role of the government in regulation.