U.S. President George W. Bush (right) with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
Photo: Dmitry Azarov
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America Is Given a Choice
// Lavrov: “I don’t know how they plan to isolate us”
Moscow says it’s not afraid of American sanctions
The international conflict over Georgia continued to intensify yesterday. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has been sent to Tbilisi, where she stated that Russia is only worsening its own isolation with its actions. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier in effect criticized the United States by saying that the solution to the crisis needs to be balanced. The French Foreign Ministry has said that the peace plan worked out by French President Nicolas Sarkozy will be introduced in the UN Security Council soon. The only holdup is that Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has yet to sign it.
Information obtained by Kommersant indicates that U.S. President George W. Bush’s announcement Wednesday evening of the beginning of humanitarian aid to Georgia caught Russian authorities off guard. Nonetheless, a high-placed source in the Kremlin told Kommersant that “It’s not a crisis yet.” The decision was made that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev would not make an official response to Bush and Moscow would limit its response to the reaction of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Criticizing Bush’s speech on Wednesday, Lavrov called Georgia an American project and essentially presented Washington with an ultimatum to choose between real partnership with Russia and its “virtual project” in Georgia.
Lavrov developed those thoughts further yesterday in an interview with radio station Echo of Moscow. The minister stated that “There are many more serious situations in the world that we cannot avoid partnership in and we need to cooperation effectively in.” He was obviously hinting at Iran. “I don’t know how they plan to isolate us,” he added, noting that threats of unpleasantness in the WTO do not worry Russia. “No one plans to accept us there any way,” he observed. “I am becoming more and more convinced of that. Every time, excuse the expression, they play with our heads. They sign a bilateral protocol, everything seems fine, and then some new issues arise.”
Tensions continued to rise yesterday. Every statement by Russian or American officials was harsher than the last. Rice, having held talks with the French president on her way to Tbilisi, said she was “not encouraged” by reports of Russian violations of the ceasefire and that the incidents “only served to deepen the isolation into which Russia is moving.” U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza repeated Rice’s thoughts when he stated in Tbilisi that Russia would do harm to itself, as well as South Ossetia and Abkhazia, if it should recognize them.
Andrey Nesterenko, official spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, responded that, for the U.S., “it is important to refrain from any steps that could be directly or indirectly assessed by the Georgian leadership as encouraging its vengeful ambitions or that could lead to a repetition of the tragic scenario.” Deputy Chief of the Russian General Staff Anatoly Nogovitsyn expressed concern over the nature of the deliveries being made by the U.S. to Georgia. “Ask the American side and it can invite you [the media] to convince yourself that it is humanitarian aid on those transport planes. Why shouldn’t they lift the curtain on what they’re carrying?” he advised.
After yesterday’s negotiations between Rice and Sarkozy, the French Foreign Ministry announced that a peace plan of five points, developed by the French president and approved by Medvedev and Saakashvili could be submitted for UN Security Council consideration in the near future. However, Kommersant has learned the Georgian president has not yet signed it. It is possible that that is due to the fifth point of the plan, which calls for the use of additional security measures by Russian peacekeepers until a decision is reached on an international mission in the conflict zone. By signing the plan, Saakashvili would be practically giving his agreement to the presence in the region of the Russian peacekeepers that he is now calling occupiers. Georgian authorities would prefer a UN Security Council resolution be passed as soon as possible containing the international format for a peacekeeping mission.
Rice arrived in Tbilisi yesterday evening. Apparently, a unified American-Georgian position on the peace plan and Security Council resolution will be formed in their negotiations.
Medvedev will hold negotiations in Sochi today with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The new concept of European security proposed by Medvedev was supposed to be the topic of those talks but, giving current events, the Kremlin’s ambitious projects are being postponed indefinitely. The Russia president will have to discuss the way out of the crisis with Merkel.
Yesterday, German Foreign Minister Steinmeier in effect criticized the U.S., saying that a balanced approach was needed to the crisis. “We must criticize what needs to be criticized and we have done this in the past, including with clear words when necessary towards Russia,” he said. “We should also pursue a policy which is sensible and realistic. If the EU really wants to play a stronger role in the region, if the EU wants to help in the stabilization of a crisis-hit region, then the lines of communication must be kept open to Tbilisi and Moscow.”
Mikhail Zygar
All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 15, 2008
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