On Monday (1 June 2026), NATO Deputy Secretary General Radmila Shekerinska gave the keynote speech at the NATO Parliamentary Assembly's Spring Session in Vilnius.
The Deputy Secretary General highlighted NATO's strength and solidarity: "No Ally ever stands alone in the Alliance." "Our Forward Land Forces are deployed from the Baltic to the Black Sea. Our NATO jets protect the skies here, but also across the totality of the eastern flank. NATO is ready, willing, and able to defend every inch of Allied territory," Ms Shekerinska said. She expressed NATO's strong support for Romania following the recent Russian done incident.
The Deputy Secretary General previewed the priorities for the upcoming NATO summit in Ankara. "Ankara will be about turning cash into combat ready capabilities, significantly scaling up our defence industries, and strongly supporting Ukraine. It will be all about delivering," she said. Ms Shekerinska highlighted the important role of parliamentarians to help, sustain and support accelerating defence investment. She also took questions alongside the European Union's Commissioner for Space and Defence, Andrius Kubilius, a sign of the close partnership between NATO and the EU.
In Vilnius, the Deputy Secretary General also attended the NATO-Ukraine Defence Innovators Forum. She underlined that "strong deterrence and defence relies on continuous, constant innovation. Ukraine shows that day after day."
During her visit, Ms Shekerinska had bilateral meetings with Lithuania's Minister of Defence, Robertas Kaunas; the Speaker of the Seimas, Juozas Olekas; and the US Delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.
