Audra Plepytė, the Lithuanian ambassador to the U.S., called for continued resistance to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and emphasized her country’s key role in the war. 

Plepytė spoke in conversation with Michael McFaul ’86 M.A. ’86 — the director of the Freeman Spogli Institute, a political science professor and a former U.S. ambassador to Russia — at a Tuesday event in Encina Hall.

In February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Many Western countries promptly sanctioned and condemned Russia in response. As a Baltic state near the Russian border, Lithuania has been particularly vocal about their need to prevent Russia from succeeding in its invasion and supporting Ukraine until it can defeat Russia. Lithuania has illustrated their support by providing monetary aid, advocacy and by taking in almost 90,000 Ukrainian refugees since the start of the war.

In an interview with The Daily, Plepytė said that young people must be value-oriented in their politics. “They shouldn’t get used to bad things,” she said.

Throughout the discussion, Plepytė repeatedly highlighted the importance of maximizing aid to Ukraine to restrain Russia and protect the global political order. 

“Russian aggression against Ukraine is not only about Ukraine,” she said. “It’s about the future security architecture in Europe [and] the global world order.”

Plepytė explained that “the rest of the world” will be watching the way that countries respond to Russia’s takeover attempt. She specifically mentioned China, Iran and North Korea. “We see that those countries [are] already working together, acting together,” she said.

The ambassador cited Iranian involvement in the Russia-Ukraine war as a reason to address the conflict head-on. Iran has sent Russia assistance for the war in the form of drones and missiles, according to U.S. intelligence sources. “They are uniting, so we have to remain united,” Plepytė said.

Plepytė said that the Northern Baltic region is donating more monetary aid to Ukraine per capita than any other region. Currently, 23 countries contribute more than 2% of their GDP to aid Ukraine, according to her, and Lithuania is one of the highest contributors relative to its size, contributing 3.2% of their GDP. She emphasized that other nations around the world need to be contributing more and that the aid needs to be explicitly dedicated to Ukraine’s victory.

One audience member, Jan Duffy ’72, praised Lithuania for its role in global politics. “I’ve visited Lithuania multiple times over the last 15 years, and I have seen a country that’s gone from East Bloc, Eastern European, to — in less than 15 years — one of the most modern countries in the world,” she told The Daily.

Plepytė commended the U.S. and the Biden administration’s initial response to the “unprecedented” full-scale invasion of Ukraine, saying that the U.S. did “very well,” although it could have been more and faster.

Duffy echoed Plepytė’s argument that the U.S. should follow Lithuania’s example as a democratic country giving aid to Ukraine. “It is just this brave little country,” she said. “[It] just stands up again in a way that I feel like we, in the U.S. should be doing.”

McFaul asked the ambassador to respond to concerns among some American citizens about “extremists” dragging the United States into “a war with Russia.”

Plepytė said that she believes that responding assertively to Russia will not lead to a war, but rather, “non-action will drag us into World War III.” Russia is like a bully, she noted.

“If you stand up on time and strong, they will listen to that… We shouldn’t be afraid of our victory,” she said.

At the conclusion of their discussion, Plepytė awarded McFaul with the Cross of Knight of Order for Merits to Lithuania under a decree of the Lithuanian president. McFaul initially won the award in February for his active stance in rallying military aid for Ukraine and championing Lithuania but was unable to travel to the country to receive it.

“I had hoped to be in Lithuania for [this], but in some ways it’s more special to be here with people that know me,” McFaul said.