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Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said he hopes U.S. President Donald Trump will make a clear and unequivocal commitment to NATO's collective defense clause at next week's alliance summit in Ankara.
Speaking in an interview with Lithuania's LRT TV on Friday, Nauseda said he expected clarity on NATO's core security guarantee during the July 7-8 meeting.
"We are still waiting for a very clear statement that Article 5 is indisputable, sacred," he said. "I hope that will be said in one form or another in Ankara."
Article 5 of the NATO treaty states that an armed attack against one or more members is considered an attack against all.
Any collective response, however, requires agreement among allies.
The clause has been invoked only once, following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.
Nauseda said Trump's criticism that some allies contribute less to collective security should be viewed as pressure for higher defense spending across the alliance.
"I believe President Trump is simply concerned that all countries understand their responsibility equally and that there should not be a club of those who contribute less and those who contribute more," he said.
The Lithuanian president said he hoped the summit would reinforce the principle that collective defense is not only the responsibility of NATO members bordering Russia but of the entire alliance.
"If there is greater understanding of this after the Ankara meeting, I will consider the summit a success," he said.
Nauseda also said decisions on the future presence of U.S. troops in Lithuania could come "in the coming weeks," though he said it remained unclear whether an announcement would be made before or after the summit.
"The signals we are receiving are positive, but they also ask for a little patience because the broader picture of U.S. troop deployments across Europe is still being put together," he said.
"Lithuania's place in that picture may be relatively small, but it is very significant for us," Nauseda added. "We are simply being asked to wait until decisions are made on the overall deployment, and then we will see where Lithuania fits into it."
Leaders of all 32 NATO member states are expected to attend the July 7-8 summit in Ankara, where defense spending and the evolving role of the United States within the alliance will be among the main topics.
Last month, Trump sharply criticized European allies, expressing disappointment over what he described as their lack of support during the war with Iran and demanding greater loyalty from the alliance.
Trump also said he would have considered skipping the Ankara summit if not for his respect for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
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