LITHUANIAN DEFENSE COUNCIL APPROVES INCREASING

UNCLAS VILNIUS 000527

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR/NB, EUR/RPM (SWANDERSON),PM/PPA (SKWAK)

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: MOPS MARR PREL PGOV LH AF
SUBJECT: LITHUANIAN DEFENSE COUNCIL APPROVES INCREASING
TROOP DEPLOYMENTS FOR INTERNATIONAL OPS


1. Foreign Minister Antanas Valionis told the Ambassador May
19 that he expects speedy passage through parliament of
legislation increasing the number of troops the Lithuanian
military may deploy to participate in international
operations. The Lithuanian State Defense Council, an
inter-ministerial group over which President Valdas Adamkus
presides, on May 18 approved draft legislation to raise the
ceiling on troop deployments for such missions from 330 to
350, authorizing the increase through the end of 2005. The
adjustment will allow the GOL to meet anticipated staffing
requirements of the provincial reconstruction team that
Lithuania will lead in Chaghcharan, Afghanistan. The
proposal will also permit the MOD to redeploy personnel from
one theater of operation to any other without prior
parliamentary authorization.


2. At the same session, the Council also approved a draft
proposal raising the ceiling for 2006 to 420, and formally
approved Lithuania's imminent launch of a Provincial
Reconstruction Team in the Ghowr province of Western
Afghanistan. The President will likely introduce the bill in
the Parliament the week beginning May 23.
Mull