High time for reflection: 15 years of Lithuanian-Russian relations
ENThe normalisation of interstate relations between former colonies and metropolitan centres is always a long and painful process. A lot of time has to pass until the economies, polities, cultures and societies finally accustom and adjust to the “separation”. Fifteen years have passed since the “separation” of Lithuania and Russia, but it would be unreasonable to claim that relations between the states have become absolutely normal. This is already a matter of concern. Even more alarming is that today, as never before, it is unclear in which direction relations will develop further – there may be a movement towards normalisation or, conversely, we may have a chance to observe a reverse process. In such ambiguous situations people usually try to fall back on historical experience and interpret current events or predict the future on its basis. If we look at relations between Lithuania and Russia from a long-term perspective and try generalising the experiences of several hundred years, unfortunately, we will not find anything reassuring here either. This has already been described once by one of the most prominent Lithuanian historians Teodor Narbutt (1784-1864), who noticed that since the twelfth century there has been a pattern of balancing in relations between Russia and Lithuania. When Russia grows weak, Lithuania has a chance to regain strength. And vice versa – when Russia recovers, Lithuania goes down again [p. 140].
