Other events in Baltic States

Lithuania feels strong support from its Western allies as it celebrates the centenary of restored statehood, the country's leaders said on Friday, informs LETA/BNS.

"At the beginning of the past century, we looked forward with great hope to any sign of support. Today we know that we have true friends and allies, and their strong supportive shoulder," Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite said during the ceremony of raising the three Baltic flags in front of the Presidential Palace in Vilnius.

Top EU officials and the presidents of Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Iceland and Georgia, and Sweden's Crown Princess Victoria were present for the ceremony in the snowy capital.

Grybauskaite thanked them for coming to Vilnius to congratulate Lithuanians on the centennial.

Lithuania enters its second century as a modern state being a member of key Western structures, the European Union and NATO, which allows it to feel safer in the face of potential threats from Russia.

European Council President Donald Tusk, in Lithuania for the centennial celebrations, said that "only by being united can European nations be sovereign and free of dependency on the great superpowers".

"Lithuania understands this all too well, and that is why it has always played an active, and constructive, role," he told reporters in Vilnius.

In his congratulatory message, US President Donald Trump thanked Lithuania for its "dedication to NATO, contributing both funds and personnel to protect the territorial integrity of all Allies and to combat the threat of global terrorism".

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