Lithuanians differ on EU-Russia talks

VILNIUS - Lithuanians differ in their judgment of the country's stance on EU talks with Russia, with 26 percent justifying Vilnius' actions and 29 percent of the polled saying this decision was off.

Nevertheless, most polled inhabitants (32 percent) said they have a difficult time assuming a stance regarding the issue, with another 13 percent not at all familiar with the situation in question.

These attitudes were revealed by a poll commissioned by the Baltic News Service and conducted by RAIT June 5-16th aiming to determine what views Lithuanian inhabitants hold on the country's decision to block EU talks with Russia over the Strategic Partnership Agreement.

Individuals aged 35-44 and polled residents of the three largest Lithuanian cities Vilnius, Kaunas and Klaipeda as well as college educated respondents, felt that Lithuania's decision to block EU-Russia talks was, in part, wrong. Individuals aged 55-64 years more often said this was not a justified decision.

People living in localities with a population of 2,000 - 30,000 more often had difficulty expressing their opinion on the issue. Individuals, who have completed elementary and comprehensive education more often said they haven't heard of Lithuania having made this decision.

In the end of April, Lithuania blocked the talks with Russia, proposing to include four declarations in the negotiations mandate, i.e. the issue of cut-off oil supply via the Druzhba pipeline, the necessity to deal with frozen conflicts in Georgia and Moldova, cooperation in solving occurrences of Jan. 13 and the Medininkai massacre as well as support for exiled persons, who are returning to the three Baltic states.

The declarations were met and accepted so Lithuania lifted its veto and didn't interfere with the commencement of talks.

Having agreed to include issues raised by Lithuania into the mandate, EU's foreign ministers made a formal approval to begin talks with Russia over the new Strategic Partnership Agreement after they were deadlocked for almost two years. The talks are due to start in the end of June.

A total of 1043 Lithuanian inhabitants aged 15-74 were surveyed for this study.

It should be noted, however, that data of a study commissioned by the Foreign Ministry and conducted during the months of May and June, revealed that most Lithuanian inhabitants (from 51 to 78 percent in different questions) support Lithuania's bringing up of topical issues in EU talks with Russia.