TFGG01: LITHUANIA IMPRESSED WITH NATO SOLIDARITY;

C O N F I D E N T I A L VILNIUS 000689 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/21/2018 TAGS: PREL XG GG LH SUBJECT: TFGG01: LITHUANIA IMPRESSED WITH NATO SOLIDARITY; EXPECTS RUSSIAN RETRIBUTION REF: A. STATE 89769 ¶B. VILNIUS 667 Classified By: CDA Damian R. Leader for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Lithuania remains very forward leaning in its reaction to the situation in Georgia. President Adamkus told Charge August 20 that he was pressing EU heads of state to take a more supportive stand on Georgia, and was pleased with the August 19 NAC statement. MFA Director of Transatlantic Cooperation and Security Policy Vytautas Leskevicius also told Post August 20 that Foreign Minister Petras Vaitiekunas was "positively impressed" by the unity and solidarity expressed toward Georgia at the NATO Special Ministerial. The GOL is very supportive of the Ministerial statement as well. Leskevicius characterized the new NATO-Georgia Commission as "the right political signal" to send to Georgia and especially Russia because it indicates an upgrade in the NATO-Georgia relationship, exactly what Leskevicius said the Russians do not want. ¶2. (C) Leskevicius also discussed the OSCE role in Georgia, saying Lithuania is pleased with the OSCE Permanent Council's decision to deploy immediately an additional twenty military monitoring officers. He said Lithuania is ready to support the overall OSCE monitoring mission with troops the MoND is currently preparing for deployment to Georgia (ref b). ¶3. (C) Leskevicius stressed that there is no doubt among the Presidency, the MFA and other senior leaders in Lithuania that there will be Russian retribution against their country for its recent support of both Georgia and the basing of Missile Defense in Eastern Europe. It may be in the form energy cutoffs, Russian missiles deployed in Kaliningrad, or even "tanks rolling down the road." Leskevicius said the Lithuanians will seek to collaborate with NATO on both re-evaluating the Russian threat to Lithuania and also a contingency plan to defend against it. ¶4. (U) Lithuania has been sending humanitarian assistance to Georgian refugees since the start of the crisis. Media sources reported August 20 that the Lithuanians will send the first shipment of "charity" items to Georgia by August 23. Charity items were collected over the August 15-17 weekend by the Democracy and Development Assistance Fund from the Lithuanian people themselves in Vilnius, Kaunas, Marijampole and Siauliai and include clothes, bedclothes, toys, shoes, and approximately USD 15,000 in cash. The Lithuanian Red Cross continues to take donations as well, and the media has estimated that the Lithuanian people have privately donated over USD 160,000 to aid Georgia. LEADER