Linas Antanas Linkevičius
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Linas Antanas Linkevičius (born 6 January 1961) is a
Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...
n diplomat and a former
Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...
and Minister of National Defence.


Early life

He was born into an engineer and teacher family. His childhood and school years were spent in
Kaunas Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai ...
. In 1978, he graduated from the Kaunas 7th Secondary School with a gold medal. From 1978-1983, he studied at the Faculty of Automation of
Kaunas Polytechnic Institute Kaunas University of Technology (abbreviated as KTU, ) is a public research university located in Kaunas, Lithuania. Established in 1922, KTU has been one of the top centers of Lithuanian science education. According to Lithuanian National Univ ...
, graduating with an electrical engineering degree. During the rest of the 80s, he served as secretary of the local
Lithuanian Komsomol , colorcode = red , logo = , caption = Emblem , logo2 = , caption2 = Flag , founded = 29 January 1919 , dissolved = 3 June 1989 , headquarters = Vilnius, Lithuanian Sovie ...
district in Panemunė.


Political career

Linkevičius served as minister of National Defence from 1993 to 1996 and from 2000 to 2004. He was the Lithuanian Permanent Representative to
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
from 2005 until 2011.


Minister of Foreign Affairs, 2012–2020

In December 2012 Linkevičius was appointed
Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...
. Throughout his term as foreign minister, Linkevičius has corroborated Lithuania's status within many international and multilateral entities and organizations, including the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
, NATO and the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
. He managed to establish strong personal ties with prominent international leaders like Laurent Fabius, Angela Merkel and
Shimon Peres Shimon Peres (; he, שמעון פרס ; born Szymon Perski; 2 August 1923 – 28 September 2016) was an Israeli politician who served as the eighth prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the ninth president of ...
, whom he invited to be an advisor to the project of the Jewish Memorial Center in Vilnius, on the site of the
Great Synagogue of Vilna The Great Synagogue of Vilna, which once stood at the end of Jewish Street (I-2), Vilnius, Lithuania, was built between 1630 and 1633 after permission was granted to construct a synagogue from stone. Standing on the spot of an existing synagogue ...
. He is known to be a partisan of international collaboration in fields like science, sport and the arts, in order to strengthen the image of Lithuania and to enhance its global standpoint. In 2015, Linkevičius visited
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
and met with the King Salman of Saudi Arabia. He said back then "I think that after this visit our relations will become much more systematic." Linkevičius expressed deep concern over the escalation of hostilities in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh and called on
Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...
and
Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...
to immediately halt fighting and progress towards a peaceful resolution. On 9 March 2018, after Poland's referral to the
European Court of Justice The European Court of Justice (ECJ, french: Cour de Justice européenne), formally just the Court of Justice, is the supreme court of the European Union in matters of European Union law. As a part of the Court of Justice of the European Un ...
, leaders of
Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...
,
Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...
and
Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...
expressed their support for Poland over the
Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union is a procedure in the treaties of the European Union ( EU) to suspend certain rights from a member state. While rights can be suspended, there is no mechanism to expel a state from the union. The procedu ...
. On 13 September 2018, Linkevičius has re-confirmed Lithuania's stand: "We will oppose the sanctions against Poland. This dialogue is very complicated but we believe that the result will be positive."


Other activities

* Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), Member of the International Leadership Council (since 2022) * European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), Member


Political positions

Linkevičius has been a constant opponent within the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
and
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
of compromises with Russia over
Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
. When measures to re-engage Russia were discussed in Brussels, in January 2015, he strongly objected. "I do not think we should think how to re-engage; Russia should think how to re-engage . . . I see no reason why we should invent something," he was quoted. "We can't trust a single word of the Russian leadership. ussia'sstatements are worthless," he was quoted as saying in a public speech in March 2015, scolding some of his European Union colleagues for being detached from "reality" in seeking to soften or unroll some of the
sanctions against Russia Sanctions, economic or international, that have been imposed on Russia include: * International sanctions during the Russo-Ukrainian War (2014–) ** Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, US legislation (2017) ** International sanc ...
. In a newspaper column, in June 2015, Linkevičius warned Lithuania's NATO partners against regression to a mid-
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
-like
détente Détente (, French: "relaxation") is the relaxation of strained relations, especially political ones, through verbal communication. The term, in diplomacy, originates from around 1912, when France and Germany tried unsuccessfully to reduc ...
with
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
, as the one experienced in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Russia, he wrote, no longer poses "a serious alternative to Western
liberal democracy Liberal democracy is the combination of a liberal political ideology that operates under an indirect democratic form of government. It is characterized by elections between multiple distinct political parties, a separation of powers into diff ...
", and its adversarial relations with the rest of
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
are "just a
Kremlin The Kremlin ( rus, Московский Кремль, r=Moskovskiy Kreml', p=ˈmɐˈskofskʲɪj krʲemlʲ, t=Moscow Kremlin) is a fortified complex in the center of Moscow founded by the Rurik dynasty, Rurik dynasty. It is the best known of th ...
construct, invented by modern Russia to cover failures of reform." Referring to Lithuania as a "frontline state" with Russia, he urged in that column that "NATO’s capabilities should be based on sober threat analyses, not illusions. Anything that the Kremlin perceives as weakness will encourage it to press ahead."


Awards

In March 2021, the Center for
Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...
ian Solidarity awarded Linkevičius the Global Belarusian Solidarity Award in the category "Melted Ice".https://belsat.eu/en/news/30-03-2021-belsat-wins-global-belarusian-solidarity-award/


See also

* List of foreign ministers in 2017 * List of current foreign ministers


References


External links


Short biography
, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Linkevicius, Linas 1961 births Living people Members of the Seimas Ministers of Defence of Lithuania Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Journalists from Vilnius Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 2nd Class Democratic Labour Party of Lithuania politicians Social Democratic Party of Lithuania politicians 21st-century Lithuanian politicians Permanent Representatives of Lithuania to NATO