Russian Ambassador to Georgia Vyacheslav Kovalenko
Photo: Ilya Pitalev
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Russia Awards Ossetians, Angers Georgia
Russian-Georgian relations have hit another snag. Russian Ambassador to Georgia Vyacheslav Kovalenko was summoned yesterday to the Georgian Foreign Ministry, where he was given a note of protest over Russian President Vladimir Putin's awarding of orders and medals to 12 residents of the unrecognized republic of South Ossetia. Georgia considers that move a violation of international law, since the presentation of Russian national honors to Georgian citizens was not approved by the Georgian government.
Putin signed the decree awarding the Ossetians the Order of Friendship and Pushkin Medal and the title of Distinguished Teacher of the Russian Federation (to South Ossetian Minister of Education Alla Dzhioeva) on Tuesday. Deputy head of the Foreign Ministry's department of information and press Andrey Krivtsov countered Georgian objects by saying, “They should be glad.” At the same time, chairman of the South Ossetian Committee on Information and Press Irina Gagloeva praised the Russian president for his “psychological support” and “political strategy in relation to South Ossetia.”
In addition to the president, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also came in for a share of Georgian ire on Tuesday. Lavrov was visiting North Ossetia (for the first time), where he launched the construction of a hydroelectric plant, visited an artists symposium and monastery and opened the national kayak slalom championship by putting on a wetsuit and running the course himself. After that, the minister noted, “Ossetia is a single people, and we want all Ossetians to live together regardless of where the border lies.”
Chairman of the Georgian Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee Konstantin Gabashvili responded to the Russian foreign minister's words that “Lavrov never hid his hatred for Georgia and the Georgians. Russia is afraid… because it sees that a settlement is near.”
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 16, 2007
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