ABSTRACT
In 2009–2010, the Lithuanian President, perhaps somewhat naively, tested the dynamics of international structural forces. Grybauskaitė attempted to establish direct contacts with leaders of Russia and Belarus, hoping to escape the long-lasting tradition of Lithuanian foreign policy to only criticise Moscow and Minsk. However, structural forces proved stronger than the agent’s interests and efforts to change the long-term inertia in relations between Lithuania and Russia. Eventually, it was precisely the changes in the structural forces, such as Russian revisionism, expansionism, and aggression against Ukraine, that strengthened Grybauskaitė’s intentions to resist pressure and manipulation, to focus on searching for energy independence from Russia, and to assume the position of one of the fiercest critics of Russia.
