"Disarmament, especially nuclear one, would be, no doubt, for the benefit of all countries, but it cannot be unilateral. The issue was discussed at the NATO Chicago Summit," Grybauskaitė told BNS on Thursday.
"Unilateral disarmament would be irresponsible and that would be a careless thing to do, especially bearing in mind Russia's reaction to such proposals," the Lithuanian president said.
Grybauskaitė's comments to BNS came after US President Barack Obama's recent speech in Berlin where he said that the US could ensure its own security and that of its allies as well as maintain a credible deterrent "while reducing our deployed strategic nuclear weapons by up to one third", adding that he intended to seek negotiations with Russia on the issue.
Obama also said that the US would also seek agreements with Russia on reducing the use of tactical weapons which are smaller and more mobile than strategic ones. Lithuanian officials have said that Russia's tactical weapons are deployed in Kaliningrad region bordering Lithuania. Meanwhile American tactical weapons are deployed in several European countries.
Russia's response to Obama's Wednesday proposal was rather reserved. The country said Washington should, first of all, pay attention to its concern over the missile defense system.
According to Grybauskaitė, Lithuania will never agree to disarmament negotiations at the expense of the missile defense system in Europe.
"Even if such disarmament really took place and talks started between the US and Russia, then Lithuania's position would be very clear - that this disarmament cannot take place at the expense of strategic projects, including the missile defense system in Europe," the Lithuanian president said.
