VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHVL #0657 2241524
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 111524Z AUG 08
FM AMEMBASSY VILNIUS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2645
INFO RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEHSI/AMEMBASSY TBILISI IMMEDIATE 0075

C O N F I D E N T I A L VILNIUS 000657 

SIPDIS 

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/11/2018 
TAGS: PREL XG GG LH
SUBJECT: TFGG01: LITHUANIA SUPPORTS NAC LANGUAGE ON GEORGIA 

REF: STATE 85678 Classified By: CDA Damian R. Leader for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 

¶1. (C) Post shared reftel language August 11 with MFA Director of Transatlantic Cooperation and Security Policy Vytautas Leskevicius, who predicted that Lithuania will agree to the statement language at the August 12 NAC. 

¶2. (C) Leskevicius told us that FM Vaitiekunas, having just returned from Tbilisi, will travel to Brussels August 12 for the NAC, and for an August 13 GAERC meeting on Georgia. Leskevicius said Lithuania and other EU member states are seeking, pre-GAERC, to get EU consensus to invite Georgian FM Tkeshelashvili so that she can brief the EU foreign ministers personally about the situation in Georgia. If EU consensus is not achieved, Leskevicius said a Friends of Georgia meeting (including FM Tkeshelashvili) will tentatively be arranged for the afternoon of August 12. He noted that U.S. and Canadian representation will also be invited to the proposed Friends of Georgia meeting. 

¶3. (C) On the humanitarian issue in Georgia, Leskevicius said he has heard that there are as many as 70,000 residents from South Ossetia now displaced and told Post that Lithuania will start to send medical supplies to the region August 11. He noted that there are approximately 200 Lithuanian citizens living in Georgia but he suspects most have left the country already. 

¶4. (U) The Presidents of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland issued a joint declaration August 10 calling on their respective governments to question several Russia-related issues in EU and NAC settings, including continuation of the visa facilitation program and negotiation of the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement. The declaration also stated that they "regret that not granting MAP to Georgia was seen as a green light for aggression." Likewise, the Chairmen of the Parliaments of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania issued a similar statement also on August 10. LEADER