“I just met with President Grybauskaitė, and it is clear to me that the U.S.-Lithuania alliance is an ever-deepening expression of our shared interests and our common democratic values,” Senator McCain opened his address on Wednesday.
“Tomorrow I will join members of the Lithuanian parliament, as well as legislators and aspiring legislators from across Europe and the world, at the Parliamentary Forum for Democracy – a legacy of Lithuania’s recent leadership of the Community of Democracies. It will be an important opportunity to share ideas, exchange best practices, and deepen our common commitment to democracy.
“It is fitting that this event will occur on your Constitution Day – the day that forever binds Lithuanians and Poles together through the shared historical experience of adopting one of modern Europe’s earliest republican constitutions. On that day – May 3 – in 1791, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth broke with the precedents of absolute monarchy that defined this region at the time, and it charted a new vision for Europe – a vision of popular sovereignty, equal rights for all, and the separation of powers with a strong and independent legislature.
“This new experiment in republican government was seen, not surprisingly perhaps, as a threat by your less Liberal neighbors, and it was a threat – for it represented, in the words of critics at the time, quote, ‘the contagion of democratic ideas.’ Barely a year later, the Russian Empire invaded and ended this constitutional experiment.
"This was not to be the last time that Lithuania agitated for republican government, and paid the price for its principles. I remember as a boy, during the early years of the Cold War, seeing unfamiliar flags paraded down the street as part of our Fourth of July celebrations. And I asked my mother what countries those flags belonged to, and she said they were the Captive Nations – nations like Lithuania and its neighbors behind the Iron Curtain, who longed to be independent and democratic.
“America stood with Lithuania, and all of the nations of central Europe, through the darkest days of your history. We kept faith with you until you won back your freedom. And we stand with you still today.
“I know there are some in this country, and in this region, who see America’s focus on the Middle East, who hear talk of a coming shift toward Asia, and who think that America is turning its back on Europe, especially central European countries like Lithuania.
“Let me be absolutely clear: Our alliances with Lithuania and with Europe, like the democratic values that underpin them, are indivisible. This is a commitment made not just by the US President, but by the US Congress, and thus by all of the American people we represent. This is a commitment anchored not just by our common interests, but by our shared ideals, our shared history, and our long ties of blood and kinship. We are literally family, and we will never abandon our family.
“Our commitment remains guided, as it has for the past two decades, by the vision of a Europe whole and free – from the northern Baltic, to the southern Caucuses, to the western Balkans, and everywhere in between. Here in central Europe, we know that the work of building a Europe whole and free remains unfinished. And America is committed to helping our friends complete that democratic journey.
“In Moldova, the Alliance for European Integration recently elected a president after 917 days without one, and the government and parliament continue working together to deepen democratic and economic reforms and to chart a path toward Europe. The United States and the EU must continue helping to fortify this progress – we, by finally repealing Jackson-Vanik for Moldova; and our European allies, by beginning the formal process of EU accession talks with Moldova.
“In Georgia, the world is witnessing the dramatic success that is possible when a democratic government fights corruption and liberates the talents of its people. The central challenge for Georgia now is to institutionalize its democracy, which makes Georgia’s elections next year so important. Here, too, the United States and Europe must continue to support Georgia. America must move urgently to finalize a free trade agreement with Georgia, and the United States and NATO must ensure that the alliance is helping Georgia to acquire the defensive weapons it so desperately needs to defend itself.
“In Ukraine, we all continue to be disappointed by the erosion of democracy and the deepening of corruption, which is reaching appalling new levels, especially among the children of the ruling elite. The Ukrainian people deserve better than this.
“The current government seeks to move the country closer to Europe at the same time that it suppresses and destroys the political opposition within Ukraine – for example, negotiating an Association Agreement with the EU, even as it prosecutes and imprisons democratic opposition leaders, such as Yuri Lutsenko and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, for purely political reasons.
“All of us in the United States, and people across the world, remain especially concerned about the treatment of former Prime Minister Tymoshenko. The recent photographs of her were disturbing and troubling, and they raise serious questions about the conditions of her captivity and her need for reliable access to quality medical treatment.
“Thus far, the Ukrainian government has sought to integrate with Europe while eroding democracy at home. Ultimately, however, it must choose, and it must be made to choose, between these two contradictory paths. The United States strongly supports closer ties between Ukraine and the EU, especially economic ties. But we hope our European friends will continue to make clear to the government of Ukraine that Europe, at its heart, is a community of values. And Ukraine cannot achieve the closer relations with Europe that it seeks until the current government ends its selective prosecution of its political opponents, unconditionally pardons those opposition leaders now in jail, and holds free and fair elections.
“In Belarus, the long struggle for democracy in Europe’s last dictatorship goes on, and the United States remains committed to standing up and speaking up for the people of Belarus until they win their freedom. Lukashenko is under more pressure than ever, especially following the latest EU sanctions. We see the effects of this growing pressure in the recent release of Andrei Sannikov and Dmitry Bondarenko after two years of political imprisonment.
“We are pleased that these champions of democracy are free, and we will not rest until the same is true for all of the political prisoners who still languish in Lukashenko’s jails.
Now is not the time to reduce the pressure on Lukashenko. It is time to increase it. The United States and the EU must continue to strengthen our common front in pressuring Lukashenko to release political prisoners and hold free and fair elections. The best way to maximize this unified external pressure is with unified internal pressure, especially from a united political opposition in Belarus.
“Finally, with Russia, as we seek a constructive agenda based on common interests, America will continue to champion the freedom and human rights of the Russian people. Next week, Vladimir Putin will be inaugurated once again as President of Russia, and there is a great deal of speculation about what he will do upon his return to that office. Aside from Mr. Putin himself, I doubt anyone really knows. I certainly do not, although I have my strong suspicions based on past experience.
“And yet, Mr. Putin will return to the presidency as winds of change may be starting to blow in Russia. The case of Sergei Magnitsky, the Russian tax attorney who was imprisoned and murdered by Russian officials for exposing egregious corruption, has stirred the conscience of the country, and the world. Dissatisfaction with the graft and arbitrary power of the state led Russians into the streets by the thousands last winter, braving freezing temperatures and official retribution to demonstrate for greater freedom. Opposition political parties recently won the right to register their groups, and now that they are no longer banned, they plan to contest local elections that are due to be held in October.
“A lot has changed over the past four years, both in Russia and the world. From the very outset of the Arab Spring, I have believed that this clarion call for freedom and justice would not be confined to the Arab world. This is a universal movement, embodying universal aspirations, with universal lessons: Either governments will lead the cause of democratic and economic reform – or their people will take these demands into the streets, where they shake the very foundations of entire countries.
“It is my hope, and I know I am not alone in expressing it, that the President-elect of Russia might choose to confound the prevailing expectations of him – for example, by adopting a more cooperative posture toward NATO and the United States… by treating Russia’s smaller neighbors with respect for their sovereign equality… by ending Russia’s shameful support, including military assistance, to the Assad regime in Syria and assuming a responsible role of world leadership on this issue… by upholding the basic rights of all Russians, including the right to contest free elections… and by fighting the corruption and predation that are so pervasive in Russia, starting with finally holding accountable the government officials who murdered Sergei Magnitsky.
“If a newly-inaugurated President Putin were to take steps like these, I think he would find that American attitudes about Russia, and about him, are not as rigid and fixed as he may assume.
“In all of these common challenges, the United States is grateful to have committed allies like Lithuania – allies that know the true value of liberty because their heroes have sacrificed so dearly for it. One of those heroes is Bishop Jurgis Matulaitis – who, as Bishop of Vilnius, was instrumental in holding this city together when Russians, Germans, Poles, and Lithuanians were fighting over it in the aftermath of the First World War.
“This struggle for a free Vilnius was defined by the Bishop’s rejection of tyranny in all its forms, as well as the lies and injustices that sustain it. And as the people of Vilnius marked their Constitution Day in 1919 as part of a newly independent country, the Bishop reflected on the deeper purpose of this struggle: ‘Only truth and justice,’ he said, ‘make nations mighty and strong.’
“It is this message that Lithuania, and our alliance together, still sends to thugs and tyrants across the world in our time: Your crimes and abuses may be formidable. But ultimately, your control is fleeting. Your reign will pass. Because you have only force and fear to sustain you, and people who long to be free will not be afraid forever.”
