Lithuania pulls out of Kosovo, focuses efforts on Afghanistan.

VIILNIUS, June 27 (Itar-Tass) - Lithuania has finished its mission in
Kosovo as part of the NATO-led international force known as KFOR and is
pulling out of the breakaway Serbian province that self-proclaimed its
independence last year.

A farewell ceremony was held at a U.S. military base near Urosevac on
Kosovo's border with Macedonia on Friday with the presence of the
Lithuanian Defence Minister Rasa Juknericiene, the press service of the
Lithuanian Defence Ministry reports.
"Lithuania has already covered a path that is being followed by
independent Kosovo, and we will choose other means to assist it in the
construction of the Kosovo armed forces," the Lithuanian defense minister
said.
After the withdrawal, Lithuanian military instructors will join NATO
groups that are helping Kosovo to train its own military personnel.
Since 1999 Lithuania had taken part in the NATO mission in Kosovo.
Over that time it had sent about 900 Lithuanian servicemen to the
breakaway province. The last contingent of 30 people was part of the
Polish-Ukrainian battalion "UkrPolBat".
Lithuania decided to end its mission in Kosovo because of
crisis-provoked cuts in the Defense Ministry budget. "In conditions of
financial hardships we have been forced to revise the priorities in our
foreign policy commitments," the Lithuanian defense minister said earlier.
Vilnius will now concentrate its efforts on Afghanistan where Lithuania is
heading an international NATO group on the restoration of the Gor province.

.Kosovo expected to officially join the IMF on Monday.

WASHINGTON, June 27 (Itar-Tass) - Serbia's breakaway province of
Kosovo, which unilaterally declared its independence last year, is to
officially become an IMF member on Monday.
Well-informed IMF forces told Itar-Tass that Kosovo's top officials
would sign the documents at the U.S. State Department on June 29.
Voting on Kosovo's admission to the IMF was held in spring. The
outcome was known in advance. The United States and most EU countries
which initially supported Kosovo's secession from Serbia provided a simple
majority of votes needed to approve Pristina's application to join the IMF.

.Russia-NATO foreign ministers to meet on Corfu - Rogozin.

BRUSSELS, June 27 (Itar-Tass) - A meeting of the foreign ministers of
Russia and NATO countries will be held on Corfu, Greece, on Saturday for
the first time after the conflict in South Ossetia.
"The first ministerial meeting of the Russia-NATO Council after the
events last August should mark the resumption of a political dialogue
between Russia and NATO," Russia's envoy to NATO Dmitry Rogozin told
Itar-Tass. He said that Saturday's meeting should dot the I's and cross
all the t's.
"Today we will see a turning point when it becomes clear whether
Russia and NATO will be able to take account of each other's positions and
recognize each other as equal partners," Rogozin went on to say. He
expressed the hope that Russia and NATO would re-launch their political
dialogue but added that it was too early to build any forecasts.
"Inside NATO there are those who actively support the development of
relations with Russia and those who consider Russia to be an ideal
material for molding a bugaboo that creates a pseudo threat to a calm
Western bourgeois existence," Rogozin said.
He added that the Russia-NATO Council meeting would be informal and
didn't have any strict agenda. Apart from general political issues, the
foreign ministers will discuss new security threats, including
Afghanistan, non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and
prospects for resuming military contacts.
"This meeting will have great political significance. This is going to
be the first ministerial meeting in more than a year. It's going to be an
excellent opportunity to re-launch our political dialogue, understand
where we are standing today and have in insight into the future," a NATO
representative told Itar-Tass.
The work of the Russia-NATO Council was frozen under tough pressure
from the previous U.S. administration shortly after Russia responded to
Georgia's military aggression against South Ossetia. NATO called that use
of force disproportionate. The alliance froze all military cooperation
with Russia, except interaction on Afghanistan.
NATO realized the need to restore relations with Russia three months
after the August events. On December 2, 2009 the foreign ministers of NATO
member countries instructed NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer
to prepare arguments for gradual and well-considered restoration of
relations with Russia.
The NATO summits in Strasbourg and Kelle on April 3-4, 2009 confirmed
a course towards restoration of relations with Russia. However, the first
meeting of the Russia-NATO Council at the ambassador level was held only
on April 29. It was followed by a diplomatic row in which Brussels
expelled two Russian diplomats allegedly on spying charges. In May, NATO
held military exercises in Georgia. These two events clearly show that
NATO is split over its relations with Russia.