VILNIUS, August 8, 2008 (AFP) - Lithuanian Foreign Minister Petras Vaitiekunas was Friday heading to Georgia to take stock of the crisis there and put fellow European Union member states in the picture.

The Lithuanian foreign ministry said Vaitiekunas' mission -- ordered by President Valdas Adamkus -- followed consultations with his counterparts in Finland, Latvia, Poland, Sweden and Ukraine.

Vaitiekunas would 'inform European Union partners' about the situation on the ground, it added.

Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden are all members of the European Union, whose rotating presidency is currently held by France.

In a separate statement, the foreign ministry took Moscow to task over its role in South Ossetia, where Georgia says Russian peacekeeping forces have been supporting separatists in the breakaway region.

'The events of the latter days only continue to cast doubts on whether the country that proclaims itself as a peacemaker can carry out such mission,' it said, adding it was time for the European Union and other international organisations to take a stand.

Lithuania -- which like Georgia broke free from the crumbling Soviet Union in 1991 -- joined NATO as well as the European Union in 2004.

It is a staunch ally of Georgia, supporting Tbilisi's efforts to build close ties with both the trans-Atlantic alliance and the 27-nation European Union.