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Russia moves toward pullback but shows strength
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-08-20 07:50
The acts of force demonstrated anew that Russia remained in control in much of the country, and that the state of the Georgian military was far from stable.
On the diplomatic front, NATO foreign ministers suspended their formal contacts with Russia as punishment. Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said "there can be no business as usual with Russia under present circumstances." But the NATO allies, bowing to pressure from European nations that depend heavily on Russia for energy, stopped short of more severe penalties being pushed by the United States. The Russian Ambassador to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, dismissed the impact of the emergency meeting in Brussels, Belgium: "The mountain gave birth to a mouse." Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said NATO was trying to make a victim of Georgia's "criminal regime." Georgia's desire for NATO membership is strongly opposed by Russia. Lavrov also said it was Georgian troops who needed to pull back to their permanent bases first. The UN Security Council also was holding emergency consultations on the conflict. The White House made clear it expected Russia to move faster. "It didn't take them really three or four days to get into Georgia, and it really shouldn't take them three or four days to get out," spokesman Gordon Johndroe said. The hostilities began earlier this month. Georgia cracked down on South Ossetia, and Russia answered by sending its troops and tanks across the Georgian border. A truce signed by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili calls for Russian forces to pull back to the positions they held before Aug. 7. The Kremlin said Medvedev told French President Nicolas Sarkozy by phone Tuesday that Russian troops would withdraw from most of Georgia by Friday -- some to Russia, others to South Ossetia and a surrounding "security zone" set in 1999. More American C-130 transport planes brought in tons of relief supplies for the displaced by the conflict, and the US said it would help for as long as needed. US Army Brig. Gen. Jon Miller said he was told food is the major issue for people west of the capital, Tbilisi, because only sporadic convoys carrying rations had been able to get through. Tensions also flared between Russia and another former Soviet republic seeking NATO membership, Ukraine. The two countries sparred over Russia's use of a naval base in the port of Sevastopol, which it is renting from Ukraine. The Kremlin wants the Russian ships to remain in Sevastopol even when the current lease expires in 2017. Ukraine's pro-Western President, Viktor Yushchenko, sided with Georgia in its conflict with Russia and moved to restrict the movement of Russian ships in the port. Ukraine's foreign minister later said Ukraine would not physically prevent Russian ships from entering and leaving the base. |
