LITHUANIAN OVERSEAS TROOP DEPLOYMENTS AUTHORIZED

UNCLAS VILNIUS 000676 SIPDIS STATE FOR PM/ISO, PM/RSAT, PM/PMAT, NEA/I, EAP AND EUR/NB E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: MARR MOPS PREL IZ AF LH SUBJECT: LITHUANIAN OVERSEAS TROOP DEPLOYMENTS AUTHORIZED THROUGH 2007 REF: A. VILNIUS 657 ¶B. VILNIUS 527 Minister of Defense Gediminas Kirkilas told the Ambassador on June 22 that Parliament granted the GOL statutory authority for international troop deployments through December 31, 2007 in a resolution it passed on June 9 (ref A). Our previous understanding based on conversations with other GOL officials was that this legislation covered only operations through December 31, 2006 (ref B). We confirmed that the resolution indeed authorizes the GOL to deploy up to 420 troops for missions in the Balkans, Central and Southern Asia, and the Persian Gulf -- including Iraq and Afghanistan -- beginning January 1, 2006 through the end of 2007. Begin translation of Parliament Resolution: "The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania decrees: The sending of Lithuanian military units, composed of troops and attached civil servants, to participate in international operations in the regions of the Balkans, Central and South Asia and the Persian Gulf is established at a maximum size of up to 350 soldiers and attached civil servants until December 31, 2005, and up to 420 soldiers and attached civil servants from January 1, 2006 until December 31, 2007." End translation of Parliament Resolution. Mull