“Putin was saying that the biggest political mistake of 20th century was the dissolution of the Soviet Union. We see this federal feeling, this loss of empire and the need to rebuild it with events that are taking place everywhere,” Mr Landsbergis said.

Lithuania, now a Nato and EU member, was annexed by the Soviet Union in 1939.

Mr Landsbergis said that Putin’s demands that Ukraine and other countries never join Nato were unacceptable and it was up to Kyiv alone to decide whether to apply to join the alliance.

“Nato is an open door Alliance, and you have to remain as such. It is up to Ukraine to decide in democratic ways if it wants to join Nato,” he said.

‘A handgun to the head’

Russia is rushing to push an agenda, he added, but there would be no quick deal to defuse the situation, especially as the Kremlin was holding a “handgun” to the West’s head.

“The only thing that we know is that Russia is a disrupter,” he said.

Lithuania sees recent Russian behaviour as a pattern stretching back to 2008 and the invasion of Georgia. The difference now is that the tremors of Russian “geopolitical disruption” were now being felt more widely than just the Baltic nations.

Mr Landsbergis said there was evidence that Belarusian state-owned companies had found loopholes to escape EU sanctions and that those needed to be closed.

He said the situation at the border, where Belarusian dictator Aleksander Lukashenko had sent migrants to cross into the EU, was quiet.