Jan 13, 2009
War in Georgia
Tuesday 02 December 2008
NATO members have come to a compromise over membership action plans for Ukraine and Georgia at a meeting of the alliance’s foreign ministers in Brussels. The agreement offers support to the two former Soviet nations to help them develop their infrastructure and defence, but it does not provide any concrete plans of how or when they can join. The membership action plan (MAP) for Georgia and Ukraine was postponed due to concerns over political instability in Ukraine, and because of Georgia’s military conflict in South Ossetia in August this year. The MAP, launched in April 1999, assists those countries which want to join the alliance in their preparations by providing advice, assistance and practical support on all aspects of membership.
NATO foreign ministers agreed to gradually resume contacts with Russia, frozen after Russian military forces invaded Georgia in August. NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer announced the decision Tuesday, as NATO ministers met in Brussels for two days of wide-ranging talks. He said negotiations with Moscow will take place at the ambassador level. NATO ministers were also encouraging Georgia and Ukraine to pursue major political and economic reforms, with the aim of eventual entry into the alliance.
A Russian naval task force from the Northern Fleet and the Venezuelan navy have successfully conducted the VenRus-2008 joint exercises in the southern Caribbean, a Russian Navy spokesman said. "The active phase of the exercise was carried out according to a detailed plan, jointly developed by the Russian and Venezuelan navies," Capt 1st Rank Igor Dygalo said. "The Russian and Venezuelan warships have practiced deployment in the southern Caribbean, coordinated tactical maneuvering, air defense, search, pursuit and detention of a ship suspected of illegal activities," the spokesman said.
Monday 01 December 2008
The Russian Navy confirmed on 09 September 2008 that a fleet of warships belonging to the Russian Northern Fleet was preparing to cross the Atlantic Ocean and head for the Caribbean. The Venezuelan Defense Ministry says the Russian vessels will visit Caracas from November 24-30, when the joint exercises will begin. Washington immediately responded by mocking the Russian move, which is widely considered a response to NATO's increased naval presence in the Black Sea. U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack jokingly said that if Russia really intended to send ships to the Caribbean, "then they found a few ships that can make it that far."
The squadron, led by the Northern Fleet’s flagship nuclear-powered Kirov-class battlecruiser Pyotr Veliky (named after Peter the Great, Czar Peter I of Russia) - one of the world’s largest heavily-armed nuclear-powered guided missile cruisers - will participate with the Venezuelan fleet in the Caribbean naval exercise in November 2008. During the joint exercises, the Russian navy is expected to deploy Moscow's most modern destroyer, the Udaloy-class Admiral Chabanenko anti-submarine destroyer, a rescue vessel and a tanker ship. This will be Russia’s first maneuver in the US backyard in nearly 20 years. The naval exercise will be conducted in Venezuelan waters between the 10th and 14th of November. The Russian and Venezuelan Navy will together perform dry runs of relief operations and test their tactical communication systems.
The official Russian governmental news service Russia Today stated that "The fact that the Russian cruiser was not designed as an instrument of attack, but instead for nuclear containment and defending nuclear submarines, this exercise looks more like an invitation to a dialogue with America rather than a military threat. Moreover, the fact that the American presidential campaign has entered its final stage, it is expected that both candidates Barack Obama and John McCain are going to exploit this naval exercise to their own benefit, verbalizing on the “return of the Russian threat”. This rhetoric may become the decisive factor for one of them to make the White House his home for the next four years."
The task force from the Northern Fleet is to visit the French naval base in Toulon on November 5-8. The Russian Navy commander, Admiral Vladimir Vysotsky, would meet with the French Navy chief of staff. After port calls and training at sea in the Mediterranean, the Northern Fleet warships will head for the Caribbean to hold exercises in November with Venezuela's navy.
Russia announced in 2007 that its Navy had resumed, and would build up, its constant presence in different regions of the world's oceans. A naval task force from Russia's Northern Fleet, consisting of the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier, the Udaloy-Class destroyers Admiral Levchenko and Admiral Chabanenko, as well as auxiliary vessels, conducted from December 2007 to February 2008 a two-month tour of duty in the Mediterranean Sea and North Atlantic.
Saturday 29 November 2008
Dmitry Medvedev welcomed a decision by the U.S. not to push for Georgia and Ukraine`s entry into NATO using the alliance`s so-called membership action plan (MAP). The Russian President said he was “glad” that “common sense prevailed” in the end. Speaking in Cuba on the final leg of his South American tour, Medvedev said he didn’t know how Washington had cometo this conclusion, but said he was relieved wisdom had won the day at least at the end of this administration’s term. "Whether they finally listened to Europe or someone else, the main thing is that this idea will not be pushed forward with such frenzy and futility as it was a short time ago,” Medvedev said.
Tuesday 25 November 2008
Russian warships sailed into port in Venezuela for a series of joint military exercises that mark Russia's first deployment in the Caribbean since the Cold War. The vessels, including the nuclear-powered cruiser, Peter the Great, and the destroyer Admiral Chabanenko, arrived at the port of La Guaira, near Caracas, for the pending maneuvers. The ships sailed into port ahead of the arrival by Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, who met this week with his host, President Hugo Chavez.
Wednesday 19 November 2008
Russia and Georgia wrapped up a round of talks aimed at easing tensions after a five-day war in August over Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia. The United Nations and European Union sponsored Wednesday's eight-party talks in Geneva. Officials from South Ossetia and from the breakaway region of Abkhazia attended the meeting, along with a representative from the United States. The talks may have accomplished little in terms of concrete solutions to the issues that continue to divide Russia and Georgia since the five-day war. What was significant, however, was the simple fact that the parties actually met. Similar talks held in Geneva last month fell apart without the sides ever gathering in the same room.
Tuesday 18 November 2008
Talks are scheduled to start in Geneva on the Russia-Georgia conflict. The first round of talks on the conflict began on October 15, but was suspended after the Georgian delegation refused to sit at the negotiating table with representatives of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Amnesty says all sides in the August conflict may have committed abuses. In its new report, Amnesty says Georgian and Russian forces and militia fighters in the breakaway South Ossetia region should be investigated for war crimes during the conflict. Amnesty's John Dalhuisen says there is strong evidence of human rights violations, noting concerns over "indiscriminate attacks by Georgian forces on entering Tskhinvali and then Russian forces in reply. "Amnesty is also very concerned with the "looting, pillaging and destruction of civilian property essentially by South Ossetian forces and militia groups in aftermath of the conflict," said Dalhuisen.
Saturday 15 November 2008
Talks due to start in Geneva on Tuesday 18 November on the recent Russia-Georgia conflict must "concentrate on essential security issues" in the region, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said. "If we want to consider ways to guarantee security amid new conditions in the region and if we want to discuss issues that need to be resolved to create conditions for the return of refugees and displaced people we have to quit comparing status and put all procedural games to one side," Lavrov said in an interview broadcast Saturday on the Russian Ekho Moskvy radio station. He said that if these issues were resolved then the "two working groups on security and the creation of conditions for the return of refugees agreed on by the two presidents [Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and French President Nicolas Sarkozy] will be able to calmly start work on the 18th of the month."
Monday 10 November 2008
The European Union said that talks on a new strategic partnership agreement with Russia would resume later this month, despite opposition from Lithuania. EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner told reporters after an EU foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels: "The presidency statement clearly backs the position of the Commission that we must go on with our negotiations." She said negotiations could take place after a meeting in Geneva on the August Russia-Georgia conflict, scheduled for November 18.
Sunday 09 November 2008
Two former British military officers are expected to provide crucial evidence that the conflict in South Ossetia was unleashed by Georgia, a British newspaper said on Sunday 09 November 2008. "Ryan Grist, a former British Army captain, and Stephen Young, a former RAF wing commander, are said to have concluded that, before the Russian bombardment began, Georgian rockets and artillery were hitting civilian areas in the breakaway region of South Ossetia every 15 or 20 seconds," The Sunday Times reported. According to the paper, the accounts by the two former British officers, who were senior figures in the mission deployed by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in the conflict area, seem likely to undermine the U.S.-backed claims of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili that his little country was the innocent victim of Russian aggression.
Friday 07 November 2008
The New York Times has published an article which questions Georgia’s account of the conflict in South Ossetia in August this year. Based on the observations of OSCE monitors, it reports that Georgia was not acting defensively, but started the shelling of civilians in the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinval. “The accounts suggest that Georgia’s inexperienced military attacked the isolated separatist capital of Tskhinvali on August 7 with indiscriminate artillery and rocket fire, exposing civilians, Russian peacekeepers and unarmed monitors to harm,” says the New York Times report. It says the monitors did not record bombardments of Georgian villages prior to its attack on Tskhinval: “According to the monitors, however, no shelling of Georgian villages could be heard in the hours before the Georgian bombardment. At least two of the four villages that Georgia has since said were under fire were near the observers’ office in Tskhinvali, and the monitors there likely would have heard artillery fire nearby”.
The U.S. State Department said the Georgian attack in South Ossetia last August was a mistake, but that it did not justify Russia's large-scale intervention. The comments follow a critical newspaper assessment of the Tbilisi government's role in the crisis. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department. In its most specific comments on the subject to date, the State Department says Georgian leaders made a mistake when they attacked the capital of breakaway South Ossetia, Tskhinvali, in August. But officials here say overall culpability for the war may never be known, and the focus now should be on getting Georgia, and especially Russia, to heed ceasefire obligations, and help return the region to stability.
Tuesday 04 November 2008
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has replaced the country's military leader, saying "shortcomings" during a war with Russia need addressing. "We must not forget that the enemy still stands at our door," said Saakashvili, who had not previously criticized the military's performance despite Russia driving the Georgian Army from breakaway South Ossetia in just a few days in August's war.
Georgia's Foreign Ministry rejected Russian charges that the country is blocking planned talks on security in the Caucasus later this month. A ministry statement said Georgia is fully prepared to take part in the talks scheduled for November 18 and blamed Russia for the stalemate in the earlier round of discussions in Geneva held on October 15. Both Georgian and Russian delegates walked out of inaugural talks in Geneva earlier this month, after Georgia objected to Russian demands for the presence of separatist representatives at the session.
Tuesday 28 October 2008
Russia says it opposes the deployment of European Union monitors inside two Georgian breakaway territories that Moscow now recognizes as independent countries. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov outlined his country's view in St. Petersburg, alongside his French counterpart, Bernard Kouchner. Lavrov said security in South Ossetia and a second Georgian breakaway territory, Abkhazia, will be guaranteed by thousands of Russian troops now deployed in the territories.
Russia's foreign minister warned Georgia that its refusal to attend Geneva talks along with South Ossetian and Abkhazian representatives would threaten regional security. Sergei Lavrov was asked by reporters to comment on remarks by Grigol Vashadze, a Georgian deputy foreign minister, that Tbilisi was ready for discussions in Geneva, scheduled for November 18, but opposed the participation of representatives from the separatist Georgian republics. "If Georgia really refuses to participate in the Geneva discussions while South Ossetian and Abkhazian representatives attend, this is sad. It is an outright challenge to all those concerned about regional security," Lavrov said following Russia-EU talks.
Russia says Georgia should not be allowed to use billions of dollars in aid from the EU to upgrade its military. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov brought the issue up at a meeting with representatives from the European Union in St. Petersburg. Diplomats also discussed ways of reviving talks on a new Russia-EU partnership, postponed in the wake of the South Ossetia conflict.
Russia will keep an eye on the countries that supplied weapons to Georgia, supporting Mikhail Saakashvili’s regime in August 2008, President Dmitry Medvedev said at today’s meeting of the presidential Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation with foreign countries. “We know how zealously some countries delivered weapons to Mikhail Saakashvili’s regime, spurring it to aggression; and currently they are actually re-loading this regime with new arms supplies,” Medvedev emphasized. “We will not forget it, shaping our policy accordingly, and I would like everyone to know that,” he added.
Monday 27 October 2008
Reports from Georgia say President Mikheil Saakashvili has fired reformist Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze. Mr. Gurgenidze, a 37-year-old technocrat and former banker, became prime minister late last year, with the primary task of attracting foreign investment and maintaining a high rate of economic growth. The five-day military conflict with Russia in August has since eroded investor confidence and slowed what otherwise was widely seen as a healthy economy. The move comes amid growing tensions between President Saakashvili and his former ally, the ex-speaker of parliament, Nino Burdzhanadze. She has announced she's forming an opposition party and is accusing the Georgian leader of preventing the formation of a democratic society.
Abkhazia doubts the ability of EU observers in Georgia to play a constructive role in preventing further conflict, Abkhazia's foreign minister said in a letter to the UN Security Council president. "The replacement of the CIS Collective Forces in the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict zone with European Union observers will not resolve the security problems in the region," Sergei Shamba told Zhang Yesui in the letter.
Sunday 26 October 2008
The leader of Georgia's pro-Russian breakaway Abkhazia region has ordered Abkhazian military forces to retaliate against what he calls all "provocations" from the Georgian side. The warning from Abkhaz separatist leader Sergei Bagapsh is the latest volley in a war of words pitting Abkhazia and another pro-Russian separatist region, South Ossetia, against the Georgian government. An explosion has destroyed a key bridge linking Georgia's breakaway republic of Abkhazia with the rest of the country.
Friday 24 October 2008
Georgian officials and Abkhazian authorities blamed each other for the blast. Residents of Abkhazia's Gali district had used the bridge to reach Georgia's Zugdidi region. Georgian authorities have called the explosion an effort by separatist and Russian officials to cut off Abkhazia and another breakaway Georgian region, South Ossetia, from the rest of the country.
The EU observers’ mission is failing to curb Georgian violations of the peace plan, Russia’s Foreign Minister has said. Sergey Lavrov has accused the European Union of "playing with fire". “The Georgian side is not fulfilling its obligations to return its troops to their military bases,” he said. He added that Georgia “regularly sends special forces and other armed units to the areas bordering South Osetia and Abkhazia”. ”We are especially worried by the fact that the European Union observers pay too little attention to these actions. We should not forget that the European Union acts as a guarantor of the non-use of force against South Osetia and Abkhazia,” he said.
Thursday 23 October 2008
Georgia said Russia deployed 2,000 additional troops into South Ossetia in the past week and was preparing "provocations" in the breakaway territory. "In the past week, Russia increased the number of troops by 2,000, to 7,000 staff," Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili told a news conference. The Kremlin has said it would station 7,600 troops in South Ossetia and Abkhazia to provide security.
Georgia has not lived up to its commitment to return troops to their bases after the armed conflict over South Ossetia in August, Russia's foreign minister said. "Georgia has not fulfilled its obligations to redeploy troops to their permanent positions of deployment," Sergei Lavrov said. He said Georgia occasionally sent commandos or other military units to areas adjacent to South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another breakaway Georgian republic. "We are worried that European Union monitors have so far been paying little attention to such matters," Lavrov said. Russia's top diplomat also dismissed claims by the Georgian Foreign Ministry that the number of Russian troops stationed in South Ossetia had increased from 2,000 to 7,000. "It is difficult to comment on statements by Georgian representatives because they contain little truth, and, unfortunately, this recent method of throwing out false information has been used regularly," Lavrov said. He said Russia had deployed around 3,700 troops in both South Ossetia and Abkhazia under friendship and cooperation agreements with the two republics.
NEZAVISIMAYA GAZETA writes that a meeting of U.S. and Russian military top brass has achieved more in the sense of repairing bilateral relations that suffered during the conflict in the Caucasus than several meetings of the two nation’s diplomats. The paper says at the meeting in Helsinki, the Chief of the Russian military’s General Staff General Nikolay Makarov and Admiral Michael Mullen and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff agreed on a plan of normalisation of bilateral military contacts, and there is a hint that they also decided to attempt to return relations between Russia and NATO to the format of the NATO-Russia council by the end of this year.
The US Northrop Grumman Electronic System Corporation’s delegation offers its service to Georgia in the air system improvement. This topic was discussed by the Northrop Grummen representatives at the meeting held in the Defence Ministry. Four-person delegation was received by the First Deputy Defence Minister, Batu Kutelia. The meeting was attended by the Deputy Chief of JS, Brigadier General Davit Nairashvili, Commander of the Air Forces, Col. Zurab Pochkhua and Head of Communication Department - J6, LTC Mamuka Liparteliani. Representatives of the corporation presented its production and introduced technical information to the Georgian side. Technical details of TV, radio, air communications and electronic systems was discussed as well. Prospects of bilateral cooperation between Georgia and Northrop Grumman will be considered during the Bilateral Defence Consultations which is going to be hold in Washington next week.
Wednesday 22 October 2008
International donors have offered $4.5 billion in aid to Georgia. The money is expected to be spent on rebuilding the country’s economy and infrastructure damaged after the conflict between Georgia and Russia last August. The amount is a billion and a half dollars more than the figure initially estimated by the World Bank. On Wednesday, 67 states and financial institutions met in Brussels to discuss the financial aid for Tbilisi. According to the global corruption watchdog Transparency International, this is more than the Georgian government budgeted to spend in 2009. It is also the equivalent of almost $1000 for each of the country's residents.
NATO will continue patrolling Baltic airspace until at least 2011, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff has told the Latvian president. U.S. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen discussed defense and NATO issues with Latvian President Vladis Zatlers, Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins and Defense Minister Vinets Veldr. NATO fighters guard the Baltic nations' airspace and perform the peacetime air defense and air policing function. U.S. Air Force F-15 aircraft based at Lakenheath, England, currently have that mission as part of NATO. "It is a NATO mission that many nations have stepped up to in the past and will continue, certainly through 2011," Mullen said.
Tuesday 21 October 2008
The world doesn’t need a new confrontation with Russia and anyone wanting one is irresponsible. That was the clear message conveyed by French President Sarkozy to the European Parliament as he outlined the outcomes of last week's summit in Brussels. Speaking in Strasbourg, Sarkozy declared, “We do not believe the world needs a crisis between Europe and Russia. It would be irresponsible. We can defend our ideas about the respect for sovereignty, the integrity of Georgia, human rights, the differences that we have, and so on. But it would be irresponsible to create conditions that would lead to a conflict, of which we have no need.”
Russia is being made to pay for the financial blunders made by the US as it fights the effects of the global financial crisis, according to Dmitry Medvedev. The Russian President was speaking at the opening of the Square of Russia in the Armenian capital, Yerevan. "We have an open economy now and we feel the impact of the global economic crisis,” he said. “In fact, we're paying for the blunders made by a number of countries, including the US, since the American market exerts a weighty influence on the international market."
NATO fighters started exercises aimed at policing the airspace over the Baltic countries as part of the Baltic air-policing mission. The Baltic air-policing mission is a NATO air defense Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) in order to guard the airspace over the three Baltic States - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The current exercise involves up to 15 NATO aircraft from the Baltic States, the U.S., Poland and Denmark. Overall supervision of the exercise will be carried out from a NATO Combined Air Operations Center in Germany.
Monday 20 October 2008
A senior U.S. official has said the dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave could be resolved within the next two months. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried, in an exclusive interview with RFE/RL's Armenian Service correspondent Ruzanna Stepanian, said that "there are hard decisions that have to be made on both sides. If this conflict were easy to resolve, it would have been resolved already."
NOVAYA GAZETA says that the financial crisis made everyone so busy at the EU summit in Brussels that there was no time left to discuss Russia and the aftermath of the Georgia – South Ossetia conflict. European leaders, writes the paper, one after another spoke of change and reform. The most energetic of all was the president of France Nicolas Sarkozy, who wants a totally new ‘market socially-oriented model of capitalism’.
Sunday 19 October 2008
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees says a large number of people displaced by violence in Georgia have returned to their villages in the buffer zone around the breakaway province of South Ossetia. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from UNHCR headquarters in Geneva. UN refugee agency spokesman Ron Redmond says monitoring teams report more than 20,000 people have headed home since Russia withdrew its troops from the buffer zone on October eighth. "Out of the 133,000 internally displaced people registered by the Georgians in August, we estimate that more than 78,000 have returned to their homes across Georgia," UN refugee agency spokesman Ron Redmond said. "And, we are carrying out a winterization program for those people who are unable to go home and who are living in various collective centers around the country, getting those buildings into shape for winter."
NATO members have come to a compromise over membership action plans for Ukraine and Georgia at a meeting of the alliance’s foreign ministers in Brussels. The agreement offers support to the two former Soviet nations to help them develop their infrastructure and defence, but it does not provide any concrete plans of how or when they can join. The membership action plan (MAP) for Georgia and Ukraine was postponed due to concerns over political instability in Ukraine, and because of Georgia’s military conflict in South Ossetia in August this year. The MAP, launched in April 1999, assists those countries which want to join the alliance in their preparations by providing advice, assistance and practical support on all aspects of membership.
NATO foreign ministers agreed to gradually resume contacts with Russia, frozen after Russian military forces invaded Georgia in August. NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer announced the decision Tuesday, as NATO ministers met in Brussels for two days of wide-ranging talks. He said negotiations with Moscow will take place at the ambassador level. NATO ministers were also encouraging Georgia and Ukraine to pursue major political and economic reforms, with the aim of eventual entry into the alliance.
A Russian naval task force from the Northern Fleet and the Venezuelan navy have successfully conducted the VenRus-2008 joint exercises in the southern Caribbean, a Russian Navy spokesman said. "The active phase of the exercise was carried out according to a detailed plan, jointly developed by the Russian and Venezuelan navies," Capt 1st Rank Igor Dygalo said. "The Russian and Venezuelan warships have practiced deployment in the southern Caribbean, coordinated tactical maneuvering, air defense, search, pursuit and detention of a ship suspected of illegal activities," the spokesman said.
Monday 01 December 2008
The Russian Navy confirmed on 09 September 2008 that a fleet of warships belonging to the Russian Northern Fleet was preparing to cross the Atlantic Ocean and head for the Caribbean. The Venezuelan Defense Ministry says the Russian vessels will visit Caracas from November 24-30, when the joint exercises will begin. Washington immediately responded by mocking the Russian move, which is widely considered a response to NATO's increased naval presence in the Black Sea. U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack jokingly said that if Russia really intended to send ships to the Caribbean, "then they found a few ships that can make it that far."
The squadron, led by the Northern Fleet’s flagship nuclear-powered Kirov-class battlecruiser Pyotr Veliky (named after Peter the Great, Czar Peter I of Russia) - one of the world’s largest heavily-armed nuclear-powered guided missile cruisers - will participate with the Venezuelan fleet in the Caribbean naval exercise in November 2008. During the joint exercises, the Russian navy is expected to deploy Moscow's most modern destroyer, the Udaloy-class Admiral Chabanenko anti-submarine destroyer, a rescue vessel and a tanker ship. This will be Russia’s first maneuver in the US backyard in nearly 20 years. The naval exercise will be conducted in Venezuelan waters between the 10th and 14th of November. The Russian and Venezuelan Navy will together perform dry runs of relief operations and test their tactical communication systems.
The official Russian governmental news service Russia Today stated that "The fact that the Russian cruiser was not designed as an instrument of attack, but instead for nuclear containment and defending nuclear submarines, this exercise looks more like an invitation to a dialogue with America rather than a military threat. Moreover, the fact that the American presidential campaign has entered its final stage, it is expected that both candidates Barack Obama and John McCain are going to exploit this naval exercise to their own benefit, verbalizing on the “return of the Russian threat”. This rhetoric may become the decisive factor for one of them to make the White House his home for the next four years."
The task force from the Northern Fleet is to visit the French naval base in Toulon on November 5-8. The Russian Navy commander, Admiral Vladimir Vysotsky, would meet with the French Navy chief of staff. After port calls and training at sea in the Mediterranean, the Northern Fleet warships will head for the Caribbean to hold exercises in November with Venezuela's navy.
Russia announced in 2007 that its Navy had resumed, and would build up, its constant presence in different regions of the world's oceans. A naval task force from Russia's Northern Fleet, consisting of the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier, the Udaloy-Class destroyers Admiral Levchenko and Admiral Chabanenko, as well as auxiliary vessels, conducted from December 2007 to February 2008 a two-month tour of duty in the Mediterranean Sea and North Atlantic.
Saturday 29 November 2008
Dmitry Medvedev welcomed a decision by the U.S. not to push for Georgia and Ukraine`s entry into NATO using the alliance`s so-called membership action plan (MAP). The Russian President said he was “glad” that “common sense prevailed” in the end. Speaking in Cuba on the final leg of his South American tour, Medvedev said he didn’t know how Washington had cometo this conclusion, but said he was relieved wisdom had won the day at least at the end of this administration’s term. "Whether they finally listened to Europe or someone else, the main thing is that this idea will not be pushed forward with such frenzy and futility as it was a short time ago,” Medvedev said.
Tuesday 25 November 2008
Russian warships sailed into port in Venezuela for a series of joint military exercises that mark Russia's first deployment in the Caribbean since the Cold War. The vessels, including the nuclear-powered cruiser, Peter the Great, and the destroyer Admiral Chabanenko, arrived at the port of La Guaira, near Caracas, for the pending maneuvers. The ships sailed into port ahead of the arrival by Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, who met this week with his host, President Hugo Chavez.
Wednesday 19 November 2008
Russia and Georgia wrapped up a round of talks aimed at easing tensions after a five-day war in August over Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia. The United Nations and European Union sponsored Wednesday's eight-party talks in Geneva. Officials from South Ossetia and from the breakaway region of Abkhazia attended the meeting, along with a representative from the United States. The talks may have accomplished little in terms of concrete solutions to the issues that continue to divide Russia and Georgia since the five-day war. What was significant, however, was the simple fact that the parties actually met. Similar talks held in Geneva last month fell apart without the sides ever gathering in the same room.
Tuesday 18 November 2008
Talks are scheduled to start in Geneva on the Russia-Georgia conflict. The first round of talks on the conflict began on October 15, but was suspended after the Georgian delegation refused to sit at the negotiating table with representatives of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Amnesty says all sides in the August conflict may have committed abuses. In its new report, Amnesty says Georgian and Russian forces and militia fighters in the breakaway South Ossetia region should be investigated for war crimes during the conflict. Amnesty's John Dalhuisen says there is strong evidence of human rights violations, noting concerns over "indiscriminate attacks by Georgian forces on entering Tskhinvali and then Russian forces in reply. "Amnesty is also very concerned with the "looting, pillaging and destruction of civilian property essentially by South Ossetian forces and militia groups in aftermath of the conflict," said Dalhuisen.
Saturday 15 November 2008
Talks due to start in Geneva on Tuesday 18 November on the recent Russia-Georgia conflict must "concentrate on essential security issues" in the region, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said. "If we want to consider ways to guarantee security amid new conditions in the region and if we want to discuss issues that need to be resolved to create conditions for the return of refugees and displaced people we have to quit comparing status and put all procedural games to one side," Lavrov said in an interview broadcast Saturday on the Russian Ekho Moskvy radio station. He said that if these issues were resolved then the "two working groups on security and the creation of conditions for the return of refugees agreed on by the two presidents [Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and French President Nicolas Sarkozy] will be able to calmly start work on the 18th of the month."
Monday 10 November 2008
The European Union said that talks on a new strategic partnership agreement with Russia would resume later this month, despite opposition from Lithuania. EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner told reporters after an EU foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels: "The presidency statement clearly backs the position of the Commission that we must go on with our negotiations." She said negotiations could take place after a meeting in Geneva on the August Russia-Georgia conflict, scheduled for November 18.
Sunday 09 November 2008
Two former British military officers are expected to provide crucial evidence that the conflict in South Ossetia was unleashed by Georgia, a British newspaper said on Sunday 09 November 2008. "Ryan Grist, a former British Army captain, and Stephen Young, a former RAF wing commander, are said to have concluded that, before the Russian bombardment began, Georgian rockets and artillery were hitting civilian areas in the breakaway region of South Ossetia every 15 or 20 seconds," The Sunday Times reported. According to the paper, the accounts by the two former British officers, who were senior figures in the mission deployed by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in the conflict area, seem likely to undermine the U.S.-backed claims of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili that his little country was the innocent victim of Russian aggression.
Friday 07 November 2008
The New York Times has published an article which questions Georgia’s account of the conflict in South Ossetia in August this year. Based on the observations of OSCE monitors, it reports that Georgia was not acting defensively, but started the shelling of civilians in the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinval. “The accounts suggest that Georgia’s inexperienced military attacked the isolated separatist capital of Tskhinvali on August 7 with indiscriminate artillery and rocket fire, exposing civilians, Russian peacekeepers and unarmed monitors to harm,” says the New York Times report. It says the monitors did not record bombardments of Georgian villages prior to its attack on Tskhinval: “According to the monitors, however, no shelling of Georgian villages could be heard in the hours before the Georgian bombardment. At least two of the four villages that Georgia has since said were under fire were near the observers’ office in Tskhinvali, and the monitors there likely would have heard artillery fire nearby”.
The U.S. State Department said the Georgian attack in South Ossetia last August was a mistake, but that it did not justify Russia's large-scale intervention. The comments follow a critical newspaper assessment of the Tbilisi government's role in the crisis. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department. In its most specific comments on the subject to date, the State Department says Georgian leaders made a mistake when they attacked the capital of breakaway South Ossetia, Tskhinvali, in August. But officials here say overall culpability for the war may never be known, and the focus now should be on getting Georgia, and especially Russia, to heed ceasefire obligations, and help return the region to stability.
Tuesday 04 November 2008
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has replaced the country's military leader, saying "shortcomings" during a war with Russia need addressing. "We must not forget that the enemy still stands at our door," said Saakashvili, who had not previously criticized the military's performance despite Russia driving the Georgian Army from breakaway South Ossetia in just a few days in August's war.
Georgia's Foreign Ministry rejected Russian charges that the country is blocking planned talks on security in the Caucasus later this month. A ministry statement said Georgia is fully prepared to take part in the talks scheduled for November 18 and blamed Russia for the stalemate in the earlier round of discussions in Geneva held on October 15. Both Georgian and Russian delegates walked out of inaugural talks in Geneva earlier this month, after Georgia objected to Russian demands for the presence of separatist representatives at the session.
Tuesday 28 October 2008
Russia says it opposes the deployment of European Union monitors inside two Georgian breakaway territories that Moscow now recognizes as independent countries. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov outlined his country's view in St. Petersburg, alongside his French counterpart, Bernard Kouchner. Lavrov said security in South Ossetia and a second Georgian breakaway territory, Abkhazia, will be guaranteed by thousands of Russian troops now deployed in the territories.
Russia's foreign minister warned Georgia that its refusal to attend Geneva talks along with South Ossetian and Abkhazian representatives would threaten regional security. Sergei Lavrov was asked by reporters to comment on remarks by Grigol Vashadze, a Georgian deputy foreign minister, that Tbilisi was ready for discussions in Geneva, scheduled for November 18, but opposed the participation of representatives from the separatist Georgian republics. "If Georgia really refuses to participate in the Geneva discussions while South Ossetian and Abkhazian representatives attend, this is sad. It is an outright challenge to all those concerned about regional security," Lavrov said following Russia-EU talks.
Russia says Georgia should not be allowed to use billions of dollars in aid from the EU to upgrade its military. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov brought the issue up at a meeting with representatives from the European Union in St. Petersburg. Diplomats also discussed ways of reviving talks on a new Russia-EU partnership, postponed in the wake of the South Ossetia conflict.
Russia will keep an eye on the countries that supplied weapons to Georgia, supporting Mikhail Saakashvili’s regime in August 2008, President Dmitry Medvedev said at today’s meeting of the presidential Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation with foreign countries. “We know how zealously some countries delivered weapons to Mikhail Saakashvili’s regime, spurring it to aggression; and currently they are actually re-loading this regime with new arms supplies,” Medvedev emphasized. “We will not forget it, shaping our policy accordingly, and I would like everyone to know that,” he added.
Monday 27 October 2008
Reports from Georgia say President Mikheil Saakashvili has fired reformist Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze. Mr. Gurgenidze, a 37-year-old technocrat and former banker, became prime minister late last year, with the primary task of attracting foreign investment and maintaining a high rate of economic growth. The five-day military conflict with Russia in August has since eroded investor confidence and slowed what otherwise was widely seen as a healthy economy. The move comes amid growing tensions between President Saakashvili and his former ally, the ex-speaker of parliament, Nino Burdzhanadze. She has announced she's forming an opposition party and is accusing the Georgian leader of preventing the formation of a democratic society.
Abkhazia doubts the ability of EU observers in Georgia to play a constructive role in preventing further conflict, Abkhazia's foreign minister said in a letter to the UN Security Council president. "The replacement of the CIS Collective Forces in the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict zone with European Union observers will not resolve the security problems in the region," Sergei Shamba told Zhang Yesui in the letter.
Sunday 26 October 2008
The leader of Georgia's pro-Russian breakaway Abkhazia region has ordered Abkhazian military forces to retaliate against what he calls all "provocations" from the Georgian side. The warning from Abkhaz separatist leader Sergei Bagapsh is the latest volley in a war of words pitting Abkhazia and another pro-Russian separatist region, South Ossetia, against the Georgian government. An explosion has destroyed a key bridge linking Georgia's breakaway republic of Abkhazia with the rest of the country.
Friday 24 October 2008
Georgian officials and Abkhazian authorities blamed each other for the blast. Residents of Abkhazia's Gali district had used the bridge to reach Georgia's Zugdidi region. Georgian authorities have called the explosion an effort by separatist and Russian officials to cut off Abkhazia and another breakaway Georgian region, South Ossetia, from the rest of the country.
The EU observers’ mission is failing to curb Georgian violations of the peace plan, Russia’s Foreign Minister has said. Sergey Lavrov has accused the European Union of "playing with fire". “The Georgian side is not fulfilling its obligations to return its troops to their military bases,” he said. He added that Georgia “regularly sends special forces and other armed units to the areas bordering South Osetia and Abkhazia”. ”We are especially worried by the fact that the European Union observers pay too little attention to these actions. We should not forget that the European Union acts as a guarantor of the non-use of force against South Osetia and Abkhazia,” he said.
Thursday 23 October 2008
Georgia said Russia deployed 2,000 additional troops into South Ossetia in the past week and was preparing "provocations" in the breakaway territory. "In the past week, Russia increased the number of troops by 2,000, to 7,000 staff," Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili told a news conference. The Kremlin has said it would station 7,600 troops in South Ossetia and Abkhazia to provide security.
Georgia has not lived up to its commitment to return troops to their bases after the armed conflict over South Ossetia in August, Russia's foreign minister said. "Georgia has not fulfilled its obligations to redeploy troops to their permanent positions of deployment," Sergei Lavrov said. He said Georgia occasionally sent commandos or other military units to areas adjacent to South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another breakaway Georgian republic. "We are worried that European Union monitors have so far been paying little attention to such matters," Lavrov said. Russia's top diplomat also dismissed claims by the Georgian Foreign Ministry that the number of Russian troops stationed in South Ossetia had increased from 2,000 to 7,000. "It is difficult to comment on statements by Georgian representatives because they contain little truth, and, unfortunately, this recent method of throwing out false information has been used regularly," Lavrov said. He said Russia had deployed around 3,700 troops in both South Ossetia and Abkhazia under friendship and cooperation agreements with the two republics.
NEZAVISIMAYA GAZETA writes that a meeting of U.S. and Russian military top brass has achieved more in the sense of repairing bilateral relations that suffered during the conflict in the Caucasus than several meetings of the two nation’s diplomats. The paper says at the meeting in Helsinki, the Chief of the Russian military’s General Staff General Nikolay Makarov and Admiral Michael Mullen and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff agreed on a plan of normalisation of bilateral military contacts, and there is a hint that they also decided to attempt to return relations between Russia and NATO to the format of the NATO-Russia council by the end of this year.
The US Northrop Grumman Electronic System Corporation’s delegation offers its service to Georgia in the air system improvement. This topic was discussed by the Northrop Grummen representatives at the meeting held in the Defence Ministry. Four-person delegation was received by the First Deputy Defence Minister, Batu Kutelia. The meeting was attended by the Deputy Chief of JS, Brigadier General Davit Nairashvili, Commander of the Air Forces, Col. Zurab Pochkhua and Head of Communication Department - J6, LTC Mamuka Liparteliani. Representatives of the corporation presented its production and introduced technical information to the Georgian side. Technical details of TV, radio, air communications and electronic systems was discussed as well. Prospects of bilateral cooperation between Georgia and Northrop Grumman will be considered during the Bilateral Defence Consultations which is going to be hold in Washington next week.
Wednesday 22 October 2008
International donors have offered $4.5 billion in aid to Georgia. The money is expected to be spent on rebuilding the country’s economy and infrastructure damaged after the conflict between Georgia and Russia last August. The amount is a billion and a half dollars more than the figure initially estimated by the World Bank. On Wednesday, 67 states and financial institutions met in Brussels to discuss the financial aid for Tbilisi. According to the global corruption watchdog Transparency International, this is more than the Georgian government budgeted to spend in 2009. It is also the equivalent of almost $1000 for each of the country's residents.
NATO will continue patrolling Baltic airspace until at least 2011, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff has told the Latvian president. U.S. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen discussed defense and NATO issues with Latvian President Vladis Zatlers, Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins and Defense Minister Vinets Veldr. NATO fighters guard the Baltic nations' airspace and perform the peacetime air defense and air policing function. U.S. Air Force F-15 aircraft based at Lakenheath, England, currently have that mission as part of NATO. "It is a NATO mission that many nations have stepped up to in the past and will continue, certainly through 2011," Mullen said.
Tuesday 21 October 2008
The world doesn’t need a new confrontation with Russia and anyone wanting one is irresponsible. That was the clear message conveyed by French President Sarkozy to the European Parliament as he outlined the outcomes of last week's summit in Brussels. Speaking in Strasbourg, Sarkozy declared, “We do not believe the world needs a crisis between Europe and Russia. It would be irresponsible. We can defend our ideas about the respect for sovereignty, the integrity of Georgia, human rights, the differences that we have, and so on. But it would be irresponsible to create conditions that would lead to a conflict, of which we have no need.”
Russia is being made to pay for the financial blunders made by the US as it fights the effects of the global financial crisis, according to Dmitry Medvedev. The Russian President was speaking at the opening of the Square of Russia in the Armenian capital, Yerevan. "We have an open economy now and we feel the impact of the global economic crisis,” he said. “In fact, we're paying for the blunders made by a number of countries, including the US, since the American market exerts a weighty influence on the international market."
NATO fighters started exercises aimed at policing the airspace over the Baltic countries as part of the Baltic air-policing mission. The Baltic air-policing mission is a NATO air defense Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) in order to guard the airspace over the three Baltic States - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The current exercise involves up to 15 NATO aircraft from the Baltic States, the U.S., Poland and Denmark. Overall supervision of the exercise will be carried out from a NATO Combined Air Operations Center in Germany.
Monday 20 October 2008
A senior U.S. official has said the dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave could be resolved within the next two months. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried, in an exclusive interview with RFE/RL's Armenian Service correspondent Ruzanna Stepanian, said that "there are hard decisions that have to be made on both sides. If this conflict were easy to resolve, it would have been resolved already."
NOVAYA GAZETA says that the financial crisis made everyone so busy at the EU summit in Brussels that there was no time left to discuss Russia and the aftermath of the Georgia – South Ossetia conflict. European leaders, writes the paper, one after another spoke of change and reform. The most energetic of all was the president of France Nicolas Sarkozy, who wants a totally new ‘market socially-oriented model of capitalism’.
Sunday 19 October 2008
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees says a large number of people displaced by violence in Georgia have returned to their villages in the buffer zone around the breakaway province of South Ossetia. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from UNHCR headquarters in Geneva. UN refugee agency spokesman Ron Redmond says monitoring teams report more than 20,000 people have headed home since Russia withdrew its troops from the buffer zone on October eighth. "Out of the 133,000 internally displaced people registered by the Georgians in August, we estimate that more than 78,000 have returned to their homes across Georgia," UN refugee agency spokesman Ron Redmond said. "And, we are carrying out a winterization program for those people who are unable to go home and who are living in various collective centers around the country, getting those buildings into shape for winter."
Jan 12, 2009
UK urges tough response to Russia
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7584995.stm
Mr Miliband said Russia's declaration had inflamed an already tense situation
UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband has called on the EU and Nato to initiate "hard-headed engagement" with Russia in response to its actions in Georgia.
In a speech in Ukraine's capital, Kiev, he urged them to bolster their allies, rebalance the energy relationship with Russia and defend international law.
Russia recognised the independence of Georgia's two breakaway regions, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, on Tuesday.
Moscow's fellow G8 members have condemned its actions in Georgia.
"We, the foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom, condemn the action of our fellow G8 member," the group of seven of the world's leading industrialised nations said in a joint statement.
"We deplore Russia's excessive use of military force in Georgia and its continued occupation of parts of Georgia."
Ukraine's President Victor Yushchenko has said his country is a hostage in a war waged by Russia against countries in the old Soviet bloc.
Russia was, is and will continue to be the last country in the world that would want a repeat of the Cold War
Dmitry PeskovRussian government spokesman
Meeting Russia's 'Number One'
Testing for a new 'Cold War'
Jubilation and dismay in Georgia
He told Mr Miliband that the brief conflict between Georgia and Russia earlier this month had exposed serious weaknesses in the powers of the UN and other international bodies.
He called for Ukraine's defences to be strengthened and said his country would consider increasing the amount of money Russia pays for the lease of the port of Sevastopol, where it stations its Black Sea Fleet.
"When we allow someone to ignore the fundamental right of territorial integrity, we put into doubt the independence or existence of any country, any nation," he said.
Fighting between Russia and Georgia began on 7 August after the Georgian military tried to retake its Russian-backed breakaway province of South Ossetia by force.
Russian forces subsequently launched a counter-attack and the conflict ended with the ejection of Georgian troops from both South Ossetia and Abkhazia and an EU-brokered ceasefire.
Russia 'unreconciled'
After holding talks with President Yushchenko, Mr Miliband told a group of students in Kiev that the Georgia crisis had "provided a rude awakening".
David Miliband said Russia must not start a new Cold War
Mr Miliband said Moscow's "unilateral attempt to redraw the map marks a moment of real significance".
Russian President Dimitry Medvedev, he said, had a "big responsibility not to start" a new Cold War.
The foreign secretary said the response of the EU and Nato to such "aggression" should be one of "hard-headed engagement".
"That means bolstering our allies, rebalancing the energy relationship with Russia, defending the rules of international institutions, and renewing efforts to tackle 'unresolved conflicts'," he explained.
Mr Miliband again rejected calls for Russia to be expelled from the G8, but did suggest the EU and Nato needed to review relations with it.
He also reiterated the British government's support for Ukraine's application for full Nato membership.
European warnings
The Russian government later responded to Mr Miliband's criticism by saying Moscow saw no threat of a new Cold War.
A spokesman for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Russia had been taking "measures of precaution" against Nato warships in the Black Sea, but hoped to avoid confrontation.
SOUTH OSSETIA & ABKHAZIA
South Ossetia
Population: About 70,000 (before recent conflict)
Capital: Tskhinvali
President: Eduard Kokoity
Abkhazia
Population: About 250,000 (2003)
Capital: Sukhumi
President: Sergei Bagapsh
Profile: South Ossetia
Profile: Abkhazia
Q&A: Conflict in Georgia
"I wouldn't agree that we really have a threat of a new Cold War. Russia was, is and will continue to be the last country in the world that would want a repeat of the Cold War," Dmitry Peskov said.
China meanwhile addressed the crisis for the first time by expressing "concern" about developments in South Ossetia and Abkhazia and urging dialogue.
The comments came as Chinese President Hu Jintao met President Medvedev in Tajikistan ahead of a regional summit.
In other developments
Georgia moved to reduce its diplomatic presence in Moscow, confirming its ambassador would not return
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the continued presence of Russian forces in Georgia proper was a grave ceasefire violation. She also agreed to send up to 15 military observers to Georgia as part of an OSCE mission
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow would support the presence of more international monitors in the buffer zones
French President Nicolas Sarkozy described Moscow's decision as an unacceptable attempt to change borders, and said any settlement had to be based on international law, dialogue and respect for Georgia's territorial integrity
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner called Russia an "international outlaw" and said the real worry was not a new Cold War but a "hot" one, suggesting that another Russian objective might now be Ukraine's mainly Russian-speaking territory of Crimea.
Preventing 'catastrophe'
On Tuesday, Mr Medvedev said Moscow had been obliged to recognise the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia following the "genocide" started by Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili in South Ossetia in August.
HAVE YOUR SAY
Miliband should keep his nose out of it unless he wants it bloodied by the Russians
Di, London
Send us your comments
"The most important thing was to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe," he told the BBC in an interview in the Russian city of Sochi.
Georgia said Russia was seeking to "change Europe's borders by force".
Most of Russia's forces pulled out of the rest of Georgia last Friday but it maintains a presence both within the two rebel regions and in buffer zones imposed round their boundaries.
Mr Medvedev has blamed Georgia for failing to negotiate a peaceful settlement to the crisis.
Mr Miliband said Russia's declaration had inflamed an already tense situation
UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband has called on the EU and Nato to initiate "hard-headed engagement" with Russia in response to its actions in Georgia.
In a speech in Ukraine's capital, Kiev, he urged them to bolster their allies, rebalance the energy relationship with Russia and defend international law.
Russia recognised the independence of Georgia's two breakaway regions, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, on Tuesday.
Moscow's fellow G8 members have condemned its actions in Georgia.
"We, the foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom, condemn the action of our fellow G8 member," the group of seven of the world's leading industrialised nations said in a joint statement.
"We deplore Russia's excessive use of military force in Georgia and its continued occupation of parts of Georgia."
Ukraine's President Victor Yushchenko has said his country is a hostage in a war waged by Russia against countries in the old Soviet bloc.
Russia was, is and will continue to be the last country in the world that would want a repeat of the Cold War
Dmitry PeskovRussian government spokesman
Meeting Russia's 'Number One'
Testing for a new 'Cold War'
Jubilation and dismay in Georgia
He told Mr Miliband that the brief conflict between Georgia and Russia earlier this month had exposed serious weaknesses in the powers of the UN and other international bodies.
He called for Ukraine's defences to be strengthened and said his country would consider increasing the amount of money Russia pays for the lease of the port of Sevastopol, where it stations its Black Sea Fleet.
"When we allow someone to ignore the fundamental right of territorial integrity, we put into doubt the independence or existence of any country, any nation," he said.
Fighting between Russia and Georgia began on 7 August after the Georgian military tried to retake its Russian-backed breakaway province of South Ossetia by force.
Russian forces subsequently launched a counter-attack and the conflict ended with the ejection of Georgian troops from both South Ossetia and Abkhazia and an EU-brokered ceasefire.
Russia 'unreconciled'
After holding talks with President Yushchenko, Mr Miliband told a group of students in Kiev that the Georgia crisis had "provided a rude awakening".
David Miliband said Russia must not start a new Cold War
Mr Miliband said Moscow's "unilateral attempt to redraw the map marks a moment of real significance".
Russian President Dimitry Medvedev, he said, had a "big responsibility not to start" a new Cold War.
The foreign secretary said the response of the EU and Nato to such "aggression" should be one of "hard-headed engagement".
"That means bolstering our allies, rebalancing the energy relationship with Russia, defending the rules of international institutions, and renewing efforts to tackle 'unresolved conflicts'," he explained.
Mr Miliband again rejected calls for Russia to be expelled from the G8, but did suggest the EU and Nato needed to review relations with it.
He also reiterated the British government's support for Ukraine's application for full Nato membership.
European warnings
The Russian government later responded to Mr Miliband's criticism by saying Moscow saw no threat of a new Cold War.
A spokesman for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Russia had been taking "measures of precaution" against Nato warships in the Black Sea, but hoped to avoid confrontation.
SOUTH OSSETIA & ABKHAZIA
South Ossetia
Population: About 70,000 (before recent conflict)
Capital: Tskhinvali
President: Eduard Kokoity
Abkhazia
Population: About 250,000 (2003)
Capital: Sukhumi
President: Sergei Bagapsh
Profile: South Ossetia
Profile: Abkhazia
Q&A: Conflict in Georgia
"I wouldn't agree that we really have a threat of a new Cold War. Russia was, is and will continue to be the last country in the world that would want a repeat of the Cold War," Dmitry Peskov said.
China meanwhile addressed the crisis for the first time by expressing "concern" about developments in South Ossetia and Abkhazia and urging dialogue.
The comments came as Chinese President Hu Jintao met President Medvedev in Tajikistan ahead of a regional summit.
In other developments
Georgia moved to reduce its diplomatic presence in Moscow, confirming its ambassador would not return
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the continued presence of Russian forces in Georgia proper was a grave ceasefire violation. She also agreed to send up to 15 military observers to Georgia as part of an OSCE mission
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow would support the presence of more international monitors in the buffer zones
French President Nicolas Sarkozy described Moscow's decision as an unacceptable attempt to change borders, and said any settlement had to be based on international law, dialogue and respect for Georgia's territorial integrity
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner called Russia an "international outlaw" and said the real worry was not a new Cold War but a "hot" one, suggesting that another Russian objective might now be Ukraine's mainly Russian-speaking territory of Crimea.
Preventing 'catastrophe'
On Tuesday, Mr Medvedev said Moscow had been obliged to recognise the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia following the "genocide" started by Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili in South Ossetia in August.
HAVE YOUR SAY
Miliband should keep his nose out of it unless he wants it bloodied by the Russians
Di, London
Send us your comments
"The most important thing was to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe," he told the BBC in an interview in the Russian city of Sochi.
Georgia said Russia was seeking to "change Europe's borders by force".
Most of Russia's forces pulled out of the rest of Georgia last Friday but it maintains a presence both within the two rebel regions and in buffer zones imposed round their boundaries.
Mr Medvedev has blamed Georgia for failing to negotiate a peaceful settlement to the crisis.
Jan 10, 2009
Georgia-Russia war intensifies
The war between Georgia and Russia over the breakaway region of South Ossetia appears to be widening, with reports of a fresh Russian bombardment of a military base and radar installation near the Georgian capital, Tbilisi.
"There were two bombings. One at the Kojori military base and another on Mount Makhata. As far as I know there are no casualties," a Georgian spokesman told the Reuters news agency early on Monday.
Kojori is about 10km from Tbilisi and the military base is home to a special forces battalion.
And at Mount Makhata, about 5km from Tbilisi, a bomb struck an air traffic control centre.
The Georgian government also said Russian aircraft had bombed a military airfield near Tbilisi's main civilian airport on Sunday.
Earlier, Utiashvili said the strategic Georgian town of Gori had come under "massive" attack from Russian artillery and aircraft while tank-led ground forces were preparing for an assault.
"There was massive bombing of Gori all evening and now we are getting reports of an imminent attack by Russian tanks," he said.
"Gori is being bombed massively from the air and from artillery as well," he added.
Temur Yakobashvili, a Georgian interior ministry spokesman, said Russian tanks had tried to cross from South Ossetia into Gori but were turned back by Georgian forces.
Rapid evacuation
Al Jazeera's Jonnah Hull, reporting from Gori, said thousands of Georgians had rapidly evacuated the town at the first mention of a possible full scale Russian invasion.
| "There was massive bombing of Gori all evening and now we are getting reports of an imminent attack by Russian tanks" Shota Utiashvili, |
About 65km northwest of the Georgian capital Tbilisi, Gori is just south of the border with South Ossetia, which has seen fierce fighting between Russian and Georgian forces in the last few days.
It is the largest Georgian town, about 50,000 in population, that sits close to the region and an important strategic link between eastern and western Georgia.
Utiashvili said Russian troops were preparing for a ground assault.
They "are not there yet but it looks like they are getting ready for it," he said, adding that Georgian forces were returning fire on Russian positions.
Doubts over ceasefire
The reported attack came after Georgia had offered a limited ceasefire in South Ossetia on Sunday for the passage of humanitarian aid and said it had pulled its troops back across the border.
It also offered immediate talks with Russia for a full ceasefire but did not get an official response.
| Map |
But Russia said Georgian troops were continuing their attacks and fended off a wave of international calls to observe the Georgian so-called ceasefire, saying it must first be assured that Georgian troops had indeed pulled back from South Ossetia.
Alexander Darchiev, Russia's charge d'affairs in Washington, said Georgian soldiers were "not withdrawing but regrouping, including heavy armour and increased attacks on Tskhinvali".
The US military began flying 2,000 Georgian troops home from Iraq after Georgia recalled them, even while calling for a truce.
Thousands of Georgians gathered in the capital Tbilisi on Sunday to protest against Russia's invasion into South Ossetia, marching to the Russian embassy and United Nations offices and calling for action from the UN and EU to stop Russia.
Also on Sunday, Russia claimed to have sunk a Georgian boat that it said was trying to attack Russian vessels in the Black Sea.
The ITAR-Tass news agency quoted a Russian defence ministry spokesman as saying that Georgian missile boats twice tried to attack Russian ships, which fired back and sank one of the Georgian vessels.
Second front fears
Meanwhile, Georgia said thousands of Russian troops arrived on Sunday in Abkhazia - another breakaway region from Georgia – amid fears of a second front opening as the separatist government there declared its own state of war.
 |
| Russia says at least 2,000 people have been killed in South Ossetia [AFP] |
But Russia's armed forces on Sunday denied plans to expand their conflict with Georgia into the Abkhazia region.
"We do not plan to escalate the conflict in this region," Anatoly Nogovitsyn, an army spokesman, said in televised remarks, referring to Abkhazia.
In Russia, the number of Ossetian refugees continued to grow.
The Red Cross said the unrest had forced at least 40,000 people from their homes and UN officials said at least 1,000 people had crossed the border into the Russian province of North Ossetia since the war began in South Ossetia.
Three days of fighting have left sections of South Ossetia's capital Tskhinvali in ruins and an undetermined number of fighters and civilians dead.
Grigory Karasin, Russia's deputy foreign minister, said more than 2,000 people had been killed in South Ossetia since Friday, most of them Ossetians, but the figure could not be independently confirmed.
War of words
At the United Nations on Sunday, the Russian and American ambassadors were having a war of their own – exchanging sharp remarks over the escalating conflict.
Zalmay Khalilzad, the US ambassador, accused Moscow of seeking "regime change" in Georgia and resisting attempts to make peace after days of deadly fighting.
 |
| The Red Cross says more than 40,000 people have fled their homes [AFP] |
Churkin said "regime change is an American expression. We do not use such an expression".
But he added: "But sometimes there are occasions, and we know from history, that there are different leaders who come to power, either democratically or semi-democratically, and they become an obstacle."
South Ossetia and Abkhazia split away from Georgia after fighting in the early 1990s and have run their own affairs without international recognition.
The two separatist provinces have close ties with Moscow, while Georgia has deeply angered Russia by wanting to join Nato.
Georgia, whose troops have been trained by American soldiers, began an offensive to regain control over South Ossetia overnight on Friday, launching heavy rocket and artillery fire and air strikes that pounded the regional capital Tskhinvali. Georgia says it was responding to attacks by separatists.
In response, Russia launched artillery shelling and air attacks on Georgian troops and entered South Ossetia to repel Georgia's attempt to retake the province
Putin: “War Has Started” with Georgia
Posted by Justin Logan
Some unfortunate “he said/he said” violence in the breakaway Georgian province of South Ossetia looks likely to escalate into full-blown war. Unsurprisingly, Eduard Kokoity, the leader of the province, and the Russian prime minister and president are blaming the Georgians for starting it. The Georgians are blaming the Russians for starting it. Washington is several thousand miles away, so it’s hard to tell from here.
What’s not hard to tell, however, is how dangerous the situation is. Recall that President Bush made a full-court press to get Georgia (and Ukraine) onto Membership Action Plans at the recent NATO summit in Bucharest. In a heroic move, the Germans spiked the deal, saving us from ourselves. But both Barack Obama and John McCain favor Georgian accession into NATO — and with it, a full-on security commitments as Article V of the NATO charter makes clear.
Here’s Barack Obama’s absurd statement on the question from last month:
As I stated in April this year, I am committed to upholding the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia. This commitment has long been a fundamental building block of U.S. policy, and it will not change under the Obama administration. I also affirm Georgia’s right to pursue NATO membership. This aspiration in no way threatens the legitimate defense interests of Georgia’s neighbors.
I’m sure the Russians are interested to learn that Obama considers himself an expert on “the legitimate defense interests” of their country. I wonder what the Kremlin thinks are the legitimate defense interests of the United States.
Unfortunately, of course, McCain is hardly a paragon of good sense on the question. He has been fairly pawing at the ground for years to get a run at Russia, and this opportunity seems as good as any.
Also of note is the fact that McCain’s chief foreign policy adviser, Randy Scheunemann, was a paid lobbyist for Georgia until March of this year — even acting simultaneously as McCain’s chief adviser on foreign policy while he was being paid by the Georgians. A man of many hats, Scheunemann apparently could separate out (a) being paid by the Georgians to lobby for them, (b) advising McCain on foreign policy (including, presumably, U.S.-Georgia relations), while (c) lobbying McCain’s Senate staff on behalf of Tbilisi.
The other point is how robust U.S. support for Georgian NATO membership may have created a moral hazard situation where the Georgians may have convinced themselves — any official urgings from the U.S. administration aside — that they would have U.S. backing should any conflict break out.
For any U.S. president, current or future, to give so much as a second’s thought of committing American blood and treasure to the defense of a tiny Caucasian country that few Americans could so much as point to on a map is ridiculous and unforgivably reckless. It would raise the prospect of restarting the Cold War, and completely poisoning our relations with a country that happens to possess both a large quantity of nuclear weapons and a permanent spot on the UN Security Council.
We sometimes joke that the worst ideas in Washington are bipartisan. Here’s another data point to support that thesis.
Update: Commentary magazine’s Gordon G. Chang is now calling for President Bush to make clear, publicly, to Prime Minister Putin that the United States “is prepared to cut off diplomatic relations, end trade, and use military force to protect this young democracy.”
Some unfortunate “he said/he said” violence in the breakaway Georgian province of South Ossetia looks likely to escalate into full-blown war. Unsurprisingly, Eduard Kokoity, the leader of the province, and the Russian prime minister and president are blaming the Georgians for starting it. The Georgians are blaming the Russians for starting it. Washington is several thousand miles away, so it’s hard to tell from here.
What’s not hard to tell, however, is how dangerous the situation is. Recall that President Bush made a full-court press to get Georgia (and Ukraine) onto Membership Action Plans at the recent NATO summit in Bucharest. In a heroic move, the Germans spiked the deal, saving us from ourselves. But both Barack Obama and John McCain favor Georgian accession into NATO — and with it, a full-on security commitments as Article V of the NATO charter makes clear.
Here’s Barack Obama’s absurd statement on the question from last month:
As I stated in April this year, I am committed to upholding the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia. This commitment has long been a fundamental building block of U.S. policy, and it will not change under the Obama administration. I also affirm Georgia’s right to pursue NATO membership. This aspiration in no way threatens the legitimate defense interests of Georgia’s neighbors.
I’m sure the Russians are interested to learn that Obama considers himself an expert on “the legitimate defense interests” of their country. I wonder what the Kremlin thinks are the legitimate defense interests of the United States.
Unfortunately, of course, McCain is hardly a paragon of good sense on the question. He has been fairly pawing at the ground for years to get a run at Russia, and this opportunity seems as good as any.
Also of note is the fact that McCain’s chief foreign policy adviser, Randy Scheunemann, was a paid lobbyist for Georgia until March of this year — even acting simultaneously as McCain’s chief adviser on foreign policy while he was being paid by the Georgians. A man of many hats, Scheunemann apparently could separate out (a) being paid by the Georgians to lobby for them, (b) advising McCain on foreign policy (including, presumably, U.S.-Georgia relations), while (c) lobbying McCain’s Senate staff on behalf of Tbilisi.
The other point is how robust U.S. support for Georgian NATO membership may have created a moral hazard situation where the Georgians may have convinced themselves — any official urgings from the U.S. administration aside — that they would have U.S. backing should any conflict break out.
For any U.S. president, current or future, to give so much as a second’s thought of committing American blood and treasure to the defense of a tiny Caucasian country that few Americans could so much as point to on a map is ridiculous and unforgivably reckless. It would raise the prospect of restarting the Cold War, and completely poisoning our relations with a country that happens to possess both a large quantity of nuclear weapons and a permanent spot on the UN Security Council.
We sometimes joke that the worst ideas in Washington are bipartisan. Here’s another data point to support that thesis.
Update: Commentary magazine’s Gordon G. Chang is now calling for President Bush to make clear, publicly, to Prime Minister Putin that the United States “is prepared to cut off diplomatic relations, end trade, and use military force to protect this young democracy.”
Jan 9, 2009
Bush Has Georgia's Back
Thinking about the hostilities in Georgia, it's instructive to return to the NATO Summit in Bucharest in April.
If you recall, Bush, along with his Russian-expert Secretary of State, descended on the member heads-of-state driving hard for the alliance to offer membership to both Georgia and Ukraine. In the top image, you can see Bush yukking it up with pre-conference sidekick, Georgian President Saakashvili.
Thankfully the Europeans, led by Germany and France, pushed back and rebuffed Bush. Otherwise, we could well be looking at the U.S. being forced to go to war with Russia this week in defense of a NATO ally -- not to mention interjecting ourselves in an ethnic and separatist conflict that is arguably far beyond our scope of interest.
What Bush's Georgian cheerleading and advocacy (not to mention, McCain's even more aggressive, compromised and meddling version) can be credited with, however, is emboldening Mikheil Saakashvili to provoke Russia in the first place, accounting for this contrast, between giggles in Bucharest, and Saakashvili hitting the dirt in Gori during a Russian airstrike.
slide show: Troops, Rubble and Grief in Georgia (NYT)
For more of the visual, visit BAGnewsNotes.com.
(image 1: Gerald Herbert/AP. April 3, 2008. Bucharest, Romania. image 2: Joao Silva for The New York Times. Gori, Georgia)
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