EU-Russia agreement could be signed without Lithuanian requirements

VILNIUS - Lithuanian ForeignMinister Petras Vaitiekunas assured that all requirements raised by Lithuania are reflected in the European Union (EU) - Russianegotiations mandate, and acknowledged that this is a sign of successfulnegotiations.

When Vaitiekunas was asked  whetherthe EU-Russia agreement could be signed even if Lithuania'srequirements are not satisfied, the minister nonchalantly replied that itcould.

The minister also emphasized that Lithuania"achieved what it could", and all Lithuania'srequirements are reflected in the mandate, which "is an integral andlegally committing document".

He noted that difficult negotiations over the text of the agreement and itsimplementation are ahead.

The minister said that even though the mandate includes a provision on theDruzhba pipeline, which hasn't seen oil-flow to Lithuaniafor almost two years now, this doesn't mean that oil supply will be renewed.

"There is no direct conditionality, this will be negotiated. The EUwill raise questions over Druzhba, legal issues and frozen conflicts in talkswith Russia,however this is not a condition for successful negotiations", Vaitiekunassaid.

He also added that "it takes two partners to negotiate and musicsuiting the fancy of both sides must play".

Lithuania blocked the talkswith Russia at the end of April, proposing to include four declarations in thenegotiations mandate: the issue of cut-off oil supply via the Druzhba pipeline,the necessity to deal with frozen conflicts in Georgia and Moldova, cooperationin solving occurrences of Jan. 13 and the Medininkai massacre as well assupport for exiled persons, who are returning to the three Baltic States.

The declarations were accepted, Lithuanialifted its veto, and didn't interfere with the start of the talks.

Having agreed to include issues raised by Lithuaniainto the mandate, EU's foreign ministers made a formal approval to begin talkswith Russiaover the new Strategic Partnership Agreement after they were deadlocked foralmost two years. The talks are due to start in the end of June.