LITHUANIA TO INTERVENE ON GEORGIA, RUSSIA, UKRAINE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 VILNIUS 000938

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/10/2016
TAGS: UN PREL PGOV LT
SUBJECT: LITHUANIA TO INTERVENE ON GEORGIA, RUSSIA, UKRAINE
AT OCTOBER 16- 17 GAERC

REF: SECSTATE 170214

Classified By: Pol/Econ Chief Rebecca Dunham for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d
)


1. (C) Summary. Lithuania's Foreign Minister Vaitiekunas
intends to intervene on Georgia-Russia relations and
Ukraine-EU relations at the October 16-17 GAERC. With
Poland, the GOL may also act to block the new EU-Russia
Partnership and Cooperation Agreement that the Finnish
Presidency is negotiating. End Summary.

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Key Lithuanian Positions
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2. (C) We delivered ref A points on GAERC agenda items to
Tomas Gulbinas, head of the MFA's Common Foreign and Security
Policy Division October 10. Gulbinas told us that
Vaitiekunas (who was in Tbilisi October 12) will call for EU
involvement in resolving the Georgia-Russia conflict and is
actively engaged in the drafting of Council Conclusions on
the dispute. Vaitiekunas also intends to intervene to
support an anticipated intervention from Poland about
Ukraine-EU relations. On North Korea, Gulbinas pointed out
that the MFA has posted on its website a condemnation of
North Korea's test of a nuclear weapon (Ref B). Gulbinas
also confirmed Lithuania's support for Guatemala over
Venezuela for the United Nations Security Council spot. On
ref A points about the Balkans, Sudan, and the Middle East,
Gulbinas said that Lithuania broadly agrees with American
positions, but has no substantive reply, does not intend to
intervene in the GAERC, and will likely follow consensus in
other EU fora.

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Georgia
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3. (C) Lithuania's FM Vaitiekunas plans to press the Council
to call Russia's retaliation against Georgia
"disproportionate" and propose that the EU take an active
role in the resolution of Georgian-Russian conflicts. These
are two points that Lithuania has been unsuccessful at
getting into the draft Council Conclusions on Georgia-Russia
relations at the working group level. According to a
marked-up draft that Gulbinas gave us, only Sweden, Latvia,
Poland and another (illegible) country supported the
statements. Gulbinas told us that the draft Council
Conclusions -- even without these two points -- are
contentious, with some member states wanting no Council
Conclusions at all, some wanting Conclusions that call for a
peaceful resolution but stop short of passing judgment on
Russia's actions, and Lithuania's camp, which wants plainly
to express support for Georgia. Lithuania has successfully
won consensus to keep some of its statements in the current
draft document: "The council urges the Russian Federation
not to pursue measures targeting Georgians in the Russian
Federation, and calls on both parties to act in a manner
consistent with their international commitments and
obligations." Lithuania has also pressured member states to
keep the statement in the current draft urging respect for
"Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity." Gulbinas
added that the Council may not reach consensus on the
Conclusions by next week's GAERC.

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Ukraine
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4. (C) Vaitiekunas also intends to intervene in support of an
anticipated Polish intervention urging closer EU-engagement
with the Ukraine. Gulbinas said that Lithuania and Poland
are encouraging redoubled engagement with Ukraine now that
Yanukovych is PM. Gulbinas, who had been on an official
visit to Ukraine the week before, said that Lithuania
believes that Ukraine's leadership is responding more or less
democratically to two conflicting trends in Ukrainian public
opinion, one seeking Western integration and the other
relying on the populist crony politics of the past.
Lithuania's policy is to urge Europe not to isolate Ukraine
and to help the leadership turn public opinion towards
pro-West, pro-democracy forces. He added optimistically that
Yanukovych's advisor told him that the PM had included a
budget line for a NATO information campaign, in line with
Yanukovych's promise that information about NATO should
precede any referendum.

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Russia PCA
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VILNIUS 00000938 002 OF 002



5. (C) The FM also plans to raise, in informal discussions,
the new EU-Russia Partnership and Cooperation Agreement that
the Finnish Presidency is currently negotiating. Gulbinas
told us that the Finnish Presidency is trying to conclude the
agreement to have as a deliverable at the November 24
EU-Russia Summit. Other member states -- especially
Lithuania and Poland -- have deep reservations about how the
agreement is shaping up. Lithuania wants the EU-Russia
agreement to be a single undertaking that is mindful of
Russia's unreliability as an energy supplier, the current
situation in Georgia, and Russia's level of progress towards
WTO membership. The new PCA should not stop short, he said,
of requiring Russia to ratify the Energy Charter. Gulbinas
said that Lithuania is the "troublemaker" in the EU on Russia
issues, but that they with Poland may hold up consensus on
the new PCA.
KELLY