Russia is a ‘cancer’ that could destroy the world, Lithuania’s first post-Soviet leader says

The world needs to be cured of Russia, the first president of post-Soviet Lithuania said Friday.

“Russia has become a cancer of Europe and the world,” said Vytautas Landsbergis, who was speaking at a ceremony in the Lithuanian parliament, according to public broadcaster LRT.

“If it is cured, the world may survive, but if not, it may lead to the destruction of the world,” the former president added.

Landsbergis was one of the founders of the pro-independence Reform Movement, which led the struggle for independence from the Soviet Union until Lithuania officially seceded in March 1990. He was president from 1990 to 1992, and later served as a member of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2014.

His grandson, Gabrielius, is Lithuania’s current foreign minister, and has been one of Russia’s fiercest critics since the start of the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The war in Ukraine has led to resurgent fears of further expansionism from Moscow in the Baltic countries, scarred by decades of Russian occupation.