Baltic News Service
June 8, 2005

LITHUANIA’S PARLT CHAIR LEARNS ABOUT RUSSIA’S SUPPORT FOR SEPARATIST
MOVEMENTS IN SOUTH CAUCASUS

VILNIUS, Jun 08

Lithuania’s parliamentary speaker, currently on an official visit to
South Caucasus countries, has learned about Russia’s support for
separatist movements splitting the region’s countries.

“Both Georgians and Azerbaijanis have unambiguously said that Russia
is a player in South Caucasus and it is not without its influence,
not without its contribution that a majority of separatist movements
have been formed and autonomous regions have been established,”
Paulauskas told the Ziniu Radijas radio on the phone on Wednesday.

“Russia supports the leaders of these autonomous formations and does
not help Georgia and Azerbaijan settle the issues of territorial
integrity of states,” he said.

In Paulauskas’ words, Azerbaijan, which had been at war with Armenia
and Mountain Karabakh, is concerned over the plans to move Russia’s
troops that are being withdrawn from Georgia to Armenia.

The latter, unlike Azerbaijan and Georgia, does not set itself an
objective of EU and NATO integration, but links its future to Russia.

In Paulauskas’ words, Azerbaijan has “very clearly” declared its
orientation towards NATO and has started speaking about
Euro-integration processes, while Georgia has already confirmed its
Euro-Atlantic integration goals by parliamentary resolutions.

The parliamentary speaker noted that on its way to NATO and the EU,
Georgia still has to solve “a number of problems,” but its leaders’
enthusiasm gives hope that this will be done.

“I believe that Georgia will cope with the set tasks,” Paulauskas
said, adding that Georgia could be considered a South Caucasus
“region leader.”

Parliamentary European Affairs Committee Chairman Vydas Gedvilas,
member of the parliamentary speaker-led delegation, has signed a
declaration on cooperation between Lithuania’s parliamentary European
Affairs Committee and Georgia’s parliamentary European Integration
Affairs Committee in Tbilisi.

According to a press release from the Lithuanian parliament, this is
the first declaration of the kind with a country seeking EU
membership.

In the declaration, the committee commits itself to supporting
Georgia in the efforts to promote regional cooperation, create
administrative capabilities and train public officials in European
integration issues, share Lithuania’s reform implementation
experience.

Lithuania became a full-fledged member of the EU and NATO last year.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress