Earlier this week, I traveled to D.C. to interview one of Washington’s newest ambassadors: Lithuanian Ambassador to the U.S., Gediminas Varvuolis.
Before the U.S., the seasoned diplomat has been posted all over the world on behalf of the tiny Baltic nation. He recently served the Three Seas Initiative that encompasses 13 countries spanning the Baltic, Adriatic, and Black Seas. Before that, he was Lithuania’s Ambassador to Japan.
Varvuolis’ current post in Washington, however, is proving to be his busiest and most consequential one yet. Appointed in July 2025, Amb. Varvuolis landed in Washington last August. Since his arrival, he’s been engaged with the State Department, Congress, nonprofit organizations, businesses, and the Lithuanian diaspora.
“In terms of our bilateral relations, we had, I think, quite successful high-level bilateral interactions since I came here,” the ambassador said to Townhall.com. “We'll continue to have more bilateral interaction, because the United States is our key strategic ally, and we want it to remain like this…And for that, we need to work hard to make sure that our leaders stay aligned and talk to each other.”
In his travels across the U.S. thus far, Ambassador Varvuolis frequently meets Americans with full or partial Lithuanian ancestry. Today, about 700,000 Americans can trace their roots back to Lithuania.
“Nowhere else in my previous postings I had this feeling that somehow Lithuania is all over the United States,” he added. “We are part of the society, and we are part of this American fabric. This makes me proud, basically, about our people that integrated American society and contributed to this American Dream.”
On April 22nd, 2026, the Embassy of Lithuania signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission to participate in upcoming America250 celebrations. Lithuanians, the ambassador noted, have a long history of living in and contributing to our economy, culture, and sports.
The U.S.-Lithuanian relationship was formally established on July 28, 1922. Our country never recognized the Soviet occupation of the Baltics – including Lithuania – under the Welles Declaration of 1940. This bilateral relationship remains strong today, especially as Lithuania pulls more than its weight as a reliable and dependable NATO ally. After Poland, it has the second-highest defense spending as a percentage of GDP. Both nations are committed to achieving the five percent GDP in defense spending goal proposed by the Trump administration.
“The security relationship that we have developed with the United States is truly fundamental,” Amb. Varvuolis said of Lithuania’s standing in NATO. “We are among the biggest, if not the biggest defense spender, in NATO. Our current defense expenditure is 5.4 percent of our GDP, which is really a big deal. We were among the first to respond to this call by President Trump in January 2025…”
The ambassador said Lithuania’s example should be replicated by other NATO allies, because through joint efforts, NATO - the “most successful alliance in history,” per Varvuolis - can be preserved. He added that NATO members can’t simply be consumers; they must also contribute to “the common effort by paying this impressive amount of money to NATO.” For instance, Lithuania regularly purchases military equipment from the U.S. – namely Javelins, anti-tank missiles, Joint Light Tactical Vehicles (JLTV) vehicles, Black Hawk helicopters, HIMARS platforms, and HIMARS missiles.
Like the U.S., Lithuania also believes in energy independence – particularly from Russia. This past February marked a decade since Lithuania became the first nation to receive American liquefied natural gas (LNG). Last year, all three Baltic states unplugged themselves from Russia’s electric grid.
“Lithuania was the first country in the Baltic Sea to build an LNG terminal, because already back then we got this idea that we have to become independent,” the ambassador elaborated. “We declared our political independence in 1990. We joined [the] European Union [and] NATO, but in reality, we remained connected to the former oppressor - to this Soviet empire - and later, Russia.” Lithuania’s journey to energy independence was long and complicated, he said, but “we managed it.”
In February 2026, Lithuania’s LNG terminal in Klaipeda received an American LNG ship, totaling 90 million cubic meters of LNG, bound for Ukraine. The ambassador praised this landmark deal, stating, “We had three shipments that were exclusively dedicated for Ukraine that were docked in Klaipeda, and then shipped through the pipeline system and through this interconnector that we have between Lithuania and Poland that we established, also thanks to the Three Seas [Initiative], a little bit, so we are able now to ship this gas all the way to Ukraine.”
I asked Ambassador Varvuolis, who was born in Soviet-occupied Lithuania, to weigh in on rising support for socialism and communism in the U.S., especially among young people.
“I graduated from the high school still technically in the Soviet Union, so I went through it all, and I really don't wish anyone to have this experience,” the ambassador explained. “There is no better system than the market economy.”
He added that socialism “will ruin your life. It will ruin your family life. It will ruin your children's lives. You will be chronically not only poor, but also chronically unhappy.”
The ambassador strongly recommended educational efforts to combat the rising tide of socialism – praising the efforts of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation and Museum two blocks away from the White House. He also said Americans, young and old, should visit Vilnius, Lithuania, to check out the Museum of Occupation and Freedom Fights – the former Gestapo and KGB headquarters during Nazi and Soviet occupations, respectively - to learn about totalitarianism’s horrors firsthand.
“It's a total illusion to think that a centralized system somehow would put everyone on equal footing, and everyone will be happy and live in a kind of communist paradise. It has never happened; it will never happen.”
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