Hannibalsson: “Lithuania has gone way beyond my expectations”

Jon Baldvin Hannibalsson was the foreign minister of Iceland in 1988-95. Under his leadership, Iceland was the first country to recognize the restored independence of Lithuania. Already since March, 1990, Hannibalsson was one of the main supporters of Lithuanian freedom on the international scene. In January, 1991, despite the displayed discontent of the USSR, he became the only minister of a NATO country to come to Vilnius and to express solidarity with Lithuania during the Soviet aggression.