News

On 12 February, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Antanas Valionis met with Environment Minister Arūnas Kundrotas. During the meeting, the Ministers discussed Lithuania’s further actions seeking to protect the Curonian Spit from oil pollution. The officials stated that Lithuania is concerned about the Russian oil company LUKoil’s intentions to utilize the oil deposit D-6 located in the Baltic Sea close to the Curonian Spit, which was included into the UNESCO World Heritage list at a joint proposition by Lithuania and Russia in 2001. An evaluation study on possible environmental effects of the oil deposit D-6 conducted by the Environment Ministry recognizes this part of the Baltic Sea as its cleanest area. The study conclusions suggest that oil pollution would not only affect the marine ecosystem, but also cause harm to the Curonian Spit's coast, the flora, birds and fishery. The UNESCO World Heritage Centre has obligated Lithuania and Russia to present by February 1 a joint report on both countries' actions seeking to protect the Curonian Spit from possible pollution. With Russia having failed to respond to repeated calls by the Lithuanian Foreign and Environment Ministries for cooperation in preparing the report, on 7 February 2003 Lithuania unilaterally presented a report on the country’s actions seeking to protect the Curonian Spit. During the meeting, Ministers Antanas Valionis and Arūnas Kundrotas decided to raise the D-6 issue at the third session of the Lithuanian-Russian intergovernmental commission planned for the end of March. Lithuania has not yet received from Russia evaluation of the D-6 deposit exploitation environmental effects. The Russian side has failed to answer to the repeated requests by the Lithuanian Foreign Affairs and Environment Ministries to arrange bilateral experts meetings on the issue. The procrastination on the Russian side has made impossible to form a joint environmental cooperation commission, which was stipulated in the Lithuanian- Russian governmental agreement on cooperation in the field of environment signed in 1999. The Ministers also stressed the necessity for Lithuania and Russia to hold a joint monitoring of the Baltic Sea water close to the D-6 oil deposit. The Lithuanian Environment Ministry has presented a relevant proposal to Russia. If Russia refuses to conduct an evaluation of environmental effects of the deposit D-6 utilization with Lithuanian experts by June 2003, Lithuania intends to ask the UNESCO World Heritage Centre to appoint international experts for the implementation of the task. Further cooperation with the European Commission's Environment Directorate has been envisaged. The directorate plans to raise the issues of information regarding the exploitation of D-6 and evaluation of its environmental effects at the meeting of the EU-Russian Energy, Environment and Nuclear Energy Subcommittee to be held in March 2003.