LITHUANIA CONSIDERING PROPOSED MESSAGE ON BELARUS

C O N F I D E N T I A L VILNIUS 001191 SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/NB E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/03/2015 TAGS: KDEM PREL PGOV BO LH SUBJECT: LITHUANIA CONSIDERING PROPOSED MESSAGE ON BELARUS REF: A. SECSTATE 201513 ¶B. VILNIUS 1161 Classified By: Pol/Econ Officer Gregory L. Bernsteen for reasons 1.4(b) and (d) ¶1. (C) We delivered ref A points to Tomas Gulbinas, head of the MFA's Common Foreign and Security Policy Department, November 2. Gulbinas said that he did not have an immediate response to our proposal, but would pass our points to the GOL's EU mission and to the Belarus desk. He commented that our proposed message largely tracks with the GAERC conclusions on Belarus that the GOL has been lobbying for in pre-GAERC working groups. ¶2. (C) Comment: Following assurances from Foreign Ministry Under Secretary Albinas Januska to the Ambassador October 26 that Lithuania supports the recently approved US policy on Belarus (ref B),we expect Lithuania's full support on this issue at the GAERC. MULL