The second one, guarantee energy supplies from Russia in the volume required by Lithuania, including resume supplies of the Russian crude oil via the Druzhba oil pipeline The third precondition, surrender to the Lithuanian authorities those special force officers “who are guilty of the death of freedom fighters in Vilnius and Myadininkay on January 13, 1991”. And the fourth one, “resolve conflicts” in Georgia and Moldavia. Naturally in favor of the aforesaid republics.
The ultimatum looked like “a sort of provocation” because the position of P. Vaitiekunas allegedly was not preliminary discussed with the Government of the Republic and Seim. Only a few days later the Lithuanian President’s Press Service issued a press-release the “the President Office does not object the statement of the Foreign Ministry”.
Meanwhile “unawareness” of the Lithuanian supreme power agencies about the steps of the Foreign Ministry raises big doubts because this move with respect to Russia complies well with a new anti-Russian campaign launched earlier in the Lithuanian mass media.
On April 18 the Lithuanian Viliyaus Dieva (Day of Vilnius) published an article titled “Lithuania – Nuclear Trap”. The article starts with the words: “The Kremlin is going to mount a new strike on Lithuania”… It is clear what a common Lithuanian will feel when he reads this words. Where to run and where to find a shelter! However, later it becomes clear that this story is neither about an attack of Russian tank divisions on Lithuania nor about a missile strike on Vilnius by the Kaliningrad Military Force.
In fact the situation is much less poetic, Vilnius is concerned over a decision taken by Moscow to build a nuclear power plant in the Kaliningrad Region that is perceived as a new expression of “imprudent and overt imperial habits of the Kremlin”. In so doing, “the danger” of the Kaliningrad nuclear power plant as alleged by the designers of this new anti-Russian information hokum, consists not in its hazard to the environment, which would sound more believable, but in the fact that the electricity generated by the Kaliningrad power plant will be cheaper than that of a European-Baltic nuclear power plant expected to be built in Lithuania instead of the Ignalinsk nuclear power plant. Cheaper … for Lithuanian consumers! This is the essence of “a new Kremlin strike on Lithuania”.
According to the Viliyaus Dieva, the last resort of Lithuania in its struggle against Russia is the European Union. The newspaper expressly reads: “There is only one option for Lithuania – to act via the EU institutions…The EU and Russia have not yet signed a new cooperation agreement. The term of the previous agreement expired in December 2007”.
In a word, the situation is favorable in al aspects: it’s a chance to do Russia a lot of harm, and simultaneously demonstrate its significance to the European Union. So, Vilnius decided to repeat the stupid step of Poland – to block the EU-Russia talks. Despite neither of the EU states supported the move of Lithuania, its “veto” was effective. These are the EU rules – the issues concerning the entire Union are adopted unanimously.
The Lithuanian move led the European Commission to a deadlock. The date of the talks with Russia has been fixed already. Therefore on May 11 foreign ministers of Poland, Sweden and Slovenia, which currently chairs the European Union presidency, urgently arrived to Vilnius to convince the Lithuanians to avoid “sudden movements” and do not obstruct signing the EU-Russia cooperation agreement, which is obviously very economically beneficial for the Union.
After the negotiations Lithuania allegedly agreed to refrain from blocking the talks between the EU and Russia on the new bilateral agreement. As quoted to Slovenian Foreign Minister D. Rupel, the ministerial meeting in Vilnius succeeded in elaborating the approaches that would satisfy all EU member-states. In particular, it was decided to include an issue on resumption of Russian oil supplies via the Druzhba pipeline in the agenda of the future talks as it was insisted by Lithuania first of all.
However, the Vilnius accords turned to be short-life. Already in two days on May 13 at a meeting of EU ambassadors who should have to confirm the Vilnius accords, i.e. a common EU stand at the talks with Moscow, several states, including France, Germany, Italy, Great Britain and Spain, did not support certain wordings offered by Lithuania and proposed to modify them. The Lithuania side continued to insist on the version elaborated in Vilnius.
That is, everything came full circle: the EU ambassadors failed to reach a shared vision. Further developments were as follows: on May 22, Polish President Leh Kachinsky visited Vilnius to discuss the situation with the Lithuanian leadership. The same day four presidents: of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, had a meeting in Riga. The goal of the meeting was to coordinate the activities in provision of energy security of the Baltic states. On May 22-23, the same agenda was discussed at the “energy summit” already in Kiev. Besides Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Ukraine, the summit was attended by the presidents and prime ministers of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Rumania and Moldavia.
It seems that the meetings and talks with the Lithuanian leadership were not useless. The stands of Latvia and Estonia, which disproved the actions of Lithuania in blocking the EU-Russia talks turned to be especially convincing and constructive in this situation. Latvia Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins said that “the decision of Lithuania to block the talks between the EU and Russia is incorrect because it is impossible to solve accumulated problems without these talks”. Latvia shares the concern of other states over the problems of reliable energy supplies but simultaneously speaks in favor of a constructive dialogue with Moscow“, the Latvian diplomat said. According to the statement of Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet “the EU member-states should be very careful in using their right of veto in blocking international talks of the European Union. Misuse of this right may undermine the fundamentals of the EU common foreign policy and lead to a situation when certain states start building their relations with Russia on a bilateral basis. Besides, the current situation may provide for favorable conditions for establishment of various coalitions inside the EU that is also harmful to the common foreign policy of the European Union”.
Finally, under pressure of the European Union Vilnius softened its stand and lifter its veto. As the saying is, it is a victory of good sense and of course a victory of Lithuania’s fair to find itself in isolation in the European Union, where Lithuania not only lacked any support but was openly criticized. So, there was a reason to step back.
According to mass media, on May 26, the EU Council at the level of foreign ministers approved a mandate of the European Commission to hold talks with Russia on the new agreement. It proves the victory of good sense over excessive political ambitions of Lithuania and its new effort to use its membership in the EU to gain economic benefits for itself.
Finally, let us give a small side note on the Lithuanian attitude to the construction of the Kaliningrad nuclear power plant. It is well-known that Poland and Baltic countries are going to have an energy ring to bypass the Kaliningrad Region and build their own nuclear power plant. All negotiations with these countries on development of power networks so that it would be possible to supply energy also to the Kaliningrad Region failed. It means that implementation of the aforesaid project by Poland and Baltic countries will result in an energy blockade of the Kaliningrad Region. Therefore the problem of provision of the Russian enclave with electricity already has no other solution but construction of own nuclear power plant there. And this solution is not and cannot be “a new Kremlin strike on Lithuania”.
