NewsTracker Answers for week of Mar. 31, 2025

Q: An armored recovery vehicle manned by four US soldiers was located underwater last week near a military training area in Lithuania, a NATO military ally of the United States. Where is Lithuania?

Circle the area on this map

Q: NATO tactical training was taking place less than 6 miles from Lithuania’s border with Belarus, a strong ally of Russia. Belarus is on which border of Lithuania?

A. Northern

B. Eastern

C. Southern

D. Southwestern

B. Lithuania is bordered by Belarus to the east, Poland to the south, the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad to the southeast, and Latvia to the north. It also shares maritime border with fellow NATO member Sweden to the west. Lithuania has been a strong supporter of Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s invasion.

Q: Like Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia and Latvia’s northern neighbor Estonia, were once ruled by the Russian Empire and later the Soviet Union. What are the countries of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia called?

A. Baltic states

B. Escaped republics

C. Maritime nations

D. Nordic countries

A. The three nations on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea are known as the Baltic states. In 1990, Lithuania was the first republic to break away from the Soviet Union – a year before the USSR was formally dissolved. The small Baltic states worry they could become the next Russian targets if Moscow gains control of Ukraine.

Q: The Baltic states are among 30 European members of the NATO along with Canada and the United States. The NATO treaty requires member nations to come to the aid of any member state subject to an armed attack. Which was the only nation get that help?

A. Britain

B. Croatia

C. France

D. United States

D. After the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, NATO invoked the treaty’s mutual aid provision for the first and only time. NATO nations, including Lithuania, sent troops to fight alongside US forces in Afghanistan. Many European leaders now worry the United States will not come to their aid if their nations are attacked.

Q: Which US official said the United States is not “primarily focused on the security of Europe” and later called “European freeloading … pathetic”?

A. President

B. Vice President

C. Secretary of Defense

D. Secretary of State

C. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth told Ukraine’s Western backers last month that Europe was not a priority and Ukraine would have to give territory to Russia. He also said the United States would not protect NATO members policing any peace agreement. Then, in an unsecured online discussion of US plans to attack rebels in Yemen, he called Europeans “pathetic.”