Croatia hopes to receive assistance from Lithuania in its efforts to become a member of the EU, Croatian Foreign Minister Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic told a Vilnius news conference on Oct. 6. It was Grabar-Kitarovic's first visit to Lithuania. Croatia opened EU negotiations on Oct. 3, and hopes to complete talks by 2008. The Croatian minister also stressed the importance of developing her country's economic ties with Lithuania.
During a week-long marine exercise in Lithuanian waters, called Amber Sea 2006, Baltic squadrons discovered 35 objects that are believed to be mines and other explosives. However, due to bad weather only three objects were visually identified: two mines and one missile minus the warhead and engine. A total of 120 square nautical miles (200 square kilometers) of Lithuania's territorial waters and exclusive economic zone were explored during the exercise, which started on Sept. 29. The year's largest mine countermeasures exercise involved approximately 500 sailors from 10 countries and 17 ships. Nine of the countries were from NATO member states: Germany, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, Estonia, Norway, Poland, Great Britain and Lithuania.
The government's right- and left-wing parties have applauded the victory of Latvia's new ruling coalition, which has been ruling the country for several years now. At a news conference on Oct. 9, the leader of Lithuania's opposition Conservatives, Andrius Kubilius said, "It is not the victory of right-wing political forces that is important, but the clear signs of stabilization." The election results in Latvia were also welcomed by the left wing. Deputy leader of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party and Parliamentary Vice-Speaker Ceslovas Jursenas accentuated that the victory would ensure continuity and stability. "The results are clear - the right has won, and I, as a representative of the left wing, should be upset. But in this case I stress something different - it is important to ensure the continuity and stability of the current government," Jursenas said.
One hundred people supported Georgia in a picket outside the Russian Embassy in Vilnius on Oct. 17. Similar actions were reported at the Russian consulate in Klaipeda. The protesters were mainly young students of Vilnius University's international relations and political science institute. But several members of the opposition conservative party group also joined. Members of local Georgian, Azerbaijani and Chechen communities in Lithuania also attended the protests in Vilnius and Klaipeda. The protesters held slogans saying "Georgia is Not Russia's Back Yard," and "Hands off Georgia." A diplomatic crisis between Georgia and Russia erupted after Georgian law-enforcement officers detained several Russian officers on suspicion of spying for Moscow. The suspected soldiers were later handed over to the OSCE. Russia then recalled its ambassador and some diplomats from Georgia, and terminated transport, communication and issuing of visas to Georgian citizens.
