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Georgia Accuses Russia of "Full-Scale Military Aggression"
Agence France-Presse
Wednesday 30 April 2008
Brussels - Georgia on Wednesday slammed Russia's plans to boost peacekeeping troops in two rebel Georgian regions as the start of "full scale military aggression."
"It's hard to believe that this is being done for the purposes of peacekeeping, it's rather the beginning of full scale military aggression," Georgia's top diplomat, David Bakradze, told AFP.
His remarks came after Russia's defence ministry announced Tuesday an increase in peacekeeping forces to Abkhazia and South Ossetia in response to what it called aggressive moves by pro-Western Georgia.
Bakradze accused Russia of strengthening "de facto control on the ground" in Abkhazia in the last three months and establishing direct ties with the local authorities, which "questions Georgia's jurisdiction".
The Russian peacekeeping announcement only fuelled problems, said President Mikheil Saakashvili's new "special representative", who resigned as foreign minister last week to run for parliament.
"The Georgian side, as the host country, should be notified in advance and there should be consent from Georgia on any troop deployment, including peacekeepers. We have not been notified," he said.
"Peacekeeping is not strengthened by unilateral steps," he told AFP by telephone during a trip to Brussels.
Russia has a peacekeeping force in the regions under an agreement with Georgia from the 1990s following wars in which separatists broke away and established close ties with Moscow, which has encouraged residents there to take Russian citizenship.
The Russian defence ministry, which accused Georgia of massing troops near the rebel areas, did not say how many extra soldiers were being sent, but said that 15 new observation posts would be set up on the front line in Abkhazia.
Around 2,000 Russians serve there and a further 1,000 in South Ossetia.
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