The article assesses how the Lithuanian authorities used sanctions as a response to the polycrisis engendered by the aggressive behaviour of Russia and its allies in 2020–2025. It investigates what ideas informed Lithuania’s sanctions policy, how it was designed and implemented, and how the consequences of sanctions were managed as the polycrisis evolved. Sanctions as a crisis management tool are treated as part of the escalation/de-escalation of relations between conflicting parties, which can itself lead to the use of other instruments of weaponising interdependencies, or might trigger domestic political crises. It is argued that the perception of threats originating from the aggressive behaviour of Russia through the weaponisation of different channels of interdependencies with EU countries led Lithuanian decision-makers to prioritise the proactive use of sanctions as one of the main instruments of response to the geopolitical crisis, by both trying to upload them to the EU’s agenda and adopting nationally. It has led to strengthening the institutional capacities of sanctions policy-making and learning during the policy implementation process. However, it has also exposed the divergent positions of the hard stance of Lithuania and its more cautious Western partners, as well as the susceptibility of crisis management to domestic politics.
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