Lavrov to U.S.: Choose between Russia and Georgia

Russia's foreign minister criticized comments made by the U.S. president as being based on unverified reports. Sergei Lavrov also said Washington has to choose between cooperation with Russia and Georgian leaders who he described as a "virtual project" for the United States, RIA Novosti reported. Lavrov to U.S.: Choose between Russia and Georgia George Bush said on Wednesday Russia must observe a ceasefire in the separatist province and said he would send military aircraft and naval vessels with humanitarian aid to Georgia. Bush also said he was alarmed by reports that Russia had blocked Georgia's Black Sea port of Poti. "I listened to George Bush's statement ... and was surprised ... the facts he cited are untrue," Lavrov said, echoing earlier denials by Russian officials that Russian troops were not advancing on Georgia's capital Tbilisi. "We understand that the U.S. is concerned about the fate of this project, but the United States will have to choose between defending its prestige over a virtual project or real partnership which requires joint action," the minister said. But what Bush failed to mention, Lavrov said, was the arming of Georgia in recent years, including by the U.S., which also trained Georgian troops. He said Moscow had warned Washington that it was "a dangerous game." "No mention was made about what happened on August 8, when Western leaders fell silent while Tskhinvali was shelled and bombed," Lavrov said. Lavrov said "the Western political elite only got excited, when Russia made the decision not to abandon its peacekeepers and to prevent ethnic cleansing, sending reinforcements to carry out an operation to force Georgia to accept peace." "There was also no mention of our efforts in recent years to broker a ceasefire deal between Tskhinvali and Tbilisi." Earlier, In today’s Financial Times, Lavrov stated that “Russia has been entirely proportionate in its military response to Georgia’s attack on Russian citizens and peacekeepers,” and that Moscow “has no intention of annexing or occupying any part of Georgia and has again affirmed its respect for its sovereignty.” “Over the next few days, on the condition that Georgia refrains from military activity and keeps its forces out of the region, Russia will continue to take the diplomatic steps required to consolidate this temporary cessation of hostilities,” he adds. “Let me be absolutely clear. This is not a conflict of Russia’s making; this is not a conflict of Russia’s choosing. There are no winners from this conflict,” Lavrov said. “Mikheil Saakashvili, Georgia’s president, has stated that ‘unless we stop Russia, unless the whole world stops it, Russian tanks will go to any European capital tomorrow,’ adding on a separate occasion that ‘it’s not about Georgia any more. It’s about America,’” the foreign minister underlines. “It is clear that Georgia wants this dispute to become something more than a short if bloody conflict in the region. For decision-makers in the NATO countries of the west, it would be worth considering whether in future you want the men and women of your armed services to be answerable to Mr. Saakashvili’s declarations of war in the Caucasus,” Lavrov says in response to the accusations. Meanwhile, Russia’s UN representative Vitaly Churkin has said that in view of the peace plan in South Ossetia, a new draft resolution must be prepared by the UN Security Council, but that the six principles of the plan must be agreed upon by the Georgians, Abkhazians and Ossetians. He told Russian daily Rossiyskaya Gazeta that the most complicated task was including a reference to Georgian aggression on South Ossetia within the resolution, adding that he expected the West to oppose such a demand. “We will, of course, insist that the resolution include direct finger-pointing (at Georgia), but I can see that the U.S. and other Western colleagues will do everything to stop that,” Churkin said. He added that by publishing and twisting confidential information exchanged between Moscow and Washington, the U.S had “only frightened Georgia, which has hampered the search for a political solution.” Asked what was stopping the majority of UN Security Council member-states from “taking a more principled position,” in relation to South Ossetia, Churkin said that many member-states were not familiar with the intricacies of the Georgia-Ossetia conflict, which, unlike the Georgia-Abkhazia issue, had never been on the Security Council’s agenda. Explaining to the permanent representatives of “Panama or Costa Rica what the Caucasus and South Ossetia are, and what kind of correlation North Ossetia has as a territory of Russia, is not easy” and will require time, he explained. Churkin said that the complicated nature of the conflict was down to the fact that things appeared one way “on the surface,” but quite another when observed more deeply. Sergei Lavrov addresses the media in Moscow (Beta)

Lavrov to U.S.: Choose between Russia and Georgia

George Bush said on Wednesday Russia must observe a ceasefire in the separatist province and said he would send military aircraft and naval vessels with humanitarian aid to Georgia.

Bush also said he was alarmed by reports that Russia had blocked Georgia's Black Sea port of Poti.

"I listened to George Bush's statement ... and was surprised ... the facts he cited are untrue," Lavrov said, echoing earlier denials by Russian officials that Russian troops were not advancing on Georgia's capital Tbilisi.

"We understand that the U.S. is concerned about the fate of this project, but the United States will have to choose between defending its prestige over a virtual project or real partnership which requires joint action," the minister said.

But what Bush failed to mention, Lavrov said, was the arming of Georgia in recent years, including by the U.S., which also trained Georgian troops.

He said Moscow had warned Washington that it was "a dangerous game."

"No mention was made about what happened on August 8, when Western leaders fell silent while Tskhinvali was shelled and bombed," Lavrov said.

Lavrov said "the Western political elite only got excited, when Russia made the decision not to abandon its peacekeepers and to prevent ethnic cleansing, sending reinforcements to carry out an operation to force Georgia to accept peace."

"There was also no mention of our efforts in recent years to broker a ceasefire deal between Tskhinvali and Tbilisi."

Earlier, In today’s Financial Times, Lavrov stated that “Russia has been entirely proportionate in its military response to Georgia’s attack on Russian citizens and peacekeepers,” and that Moscow “has no intention of annexing or occupying any part of Georgia and has again affirmed its respect for its sovereignty.”

“Over the next few days, on the condition that Georgia refrains from military activity and keeps its forces out of the region, Russia will continue to take the diplomatic steps required to consolidate this temporary cessation of hostilities,” he adds.

“Let me be absolutely clear. This is not a conflict of Russia’s making; this is not a conflict of Russia’s choosing. There are no winners from this conflict,” Lavrov said.

“Mikheil Saakashvili, Georgia’s president, has stated that ‘unless we stop Russia, unless the whole world stops it, Russian tanks will go to any European capital tomorrow,’ adding on a separate occasion that ‘it’s not about Georgia any more. It’s about America,’” the foreign minister underlines.

“It is clear that Georgia wants this dispute to become something more than a short if bloody conflict in the region. For decision-makers in the NATO countries of the west, it would be worth considering whether in future you want the men and women of your armed services to be answerable to Mr. Saakashvili’s declarations of war in the Caucasus,” Lavrov says in response to the accusations.

Meanwhile, Russia’s UN representative Vitaly Churkin has said that in view of the peace plan in South Ossetia, a new draft resolution must be prepared by the UN Security Council, but that the six principles of the plan must be agreed upon by the Georgians, Abkhazians and Ossetians.

He told Russian daily Rossiyskaya Gazeta that the most complicated task was including a reference to Georgian aggression on South Ossetia within the resolution, adding that he expected the West to oppose such a demand.

“We will, of course, insist that the resolution include direct finger-pointing (at Georgia), but I can see that the U.S. and other Western colleagues will do everything to stop that,” Churkin said.

He added that by publishing and twisting confidential information exchanged between Moscow and Washington, the U.S had “only frightened Georgia, which has hampered the search for a political solution.”

Asked what was stopping the majority of UN Security Council member-states from “taking a more principled position,” in relation to South Ossetia, Churkin said that many member-states were not familiar with the intricacies of the Georgia-Ossetia conflict, which, unlike the Georgia-Abkhazia issue, had never been on the Security Council’s agenda.

Explaining to the permanent representatives of “Panama or Costa Rica what the Caucasus and South Ossetia are, and what kind of correlation North Ossetia has as a territory of Russia, is not easy” and will require time, he explained.

Churkin said that the complicated nature of the conflict was down to the fact that things appeared one way “on the surface,” but quite another when observed more deeply.