VILNIUS – The President of the Republic of Lithuania Valdas Adamkus had a telephone conversation with the President of Estonia Toomas Hendrik Ilves.

The two presidents discussed the agenda of the upcoming European Summit in Brussels next week and the latest news about the withdrawal of Russian troops from Georgian territory.

Adamkus noted that the withdrawal of Russian troops from the so-called buffer zones was too passive and there were still many more Russian soldiers in Abkhazia and South Ossetia than before the conflict this past August.

"We very much appreciate the efforts of the French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the agreement reached on 12 August under which all military forces must be withdrawn to the pre-conflict position of 7 August. This means that about three thousand peacekeepers may stay in Georgian territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. However, there are still about 7800 Russian soldiers in Georgia," Adamkus said.

According to the Adamkus, the European Union must continue its principled efforts towards implementation of the agreement of 12 August 2008.

"We agreed in the extraordinary meeting of the EU leaders on 1 September to seek full implementation of the six-item plan agreed by Sarkozy and Medvedev. All leaders of the EU agreed to this position but the agreement is not being implemented," Adamkus underlined.

"I am confident that we cannot let ourselves be misled by various interpretations and we must seek implementation of the commitments made by the European Council. Only once these commitments are implemented in full, we will be able to think about the future of the EU-Russian relations," added Adamkus.

Ilves and Adamkus also discussed the situation in Iceland, noting that Europe should be giving more attention to this state which is currently in financial difficulty.
Ref: PRESS RELEASE
PRESS SERVICE PRESIDENT OF LITHUANIA
October 10, 2008

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