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