He stated the position at a meeting of foreign ministers of the NATO-Russia Council in Brussels on Thursday.
"In the discussion with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Ažubalis urged the country to boost the transparency in the field of tactical nuclear weapons and criticized the planned war games Kavkaz 2012, which, in his words, will not contribute to stability in the Caucasian region," the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry said in a press release.
The situation in South Caucasus remains tense more than three years after a brief military conflict in August 2008 between Moscow and Tbilisi, which led to splitting of two separatist Georgian regions – Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Russia later stationed military bases in the two regions.
According to the press release, the Lithuanian diplomacy chief also drew his colleagues' attention to detonations performed by Russia in its Kaliningrad region close to Lithuania's border, proposing to organize a NATO project for development of alternative ways of destroying old munitions.
A few complaints were received over the past several months from Lithuanians living close to the Kaliningrad border about continuous explosions on the Russian side. Sources say Russians are destroying old munitions in training grounds close to the national border.
The ministry cited Ažubalis as applauding the NATO-Russia project, which seeks to protect the Baltic Sea against threats of oil spillage. The project involves Lithuanian and Russian scientists.
"Joint NATO-Russia cooperation projects have positive effects upon evolution of relations and bring specific practical benefits; however, a higher degree of participation and transparency on the Russian side is still needed on some issues. Lithuania is alarmed over increase of military capacities in the Kaliningrad region," the minister said.
