9 сентября 2008 Года
Russia says Georgia has not yet pledged non-use of force MOSCOW, September 10 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's foreign minister said on Wednesday that the Georgian president had not yet given assurances that his country would not attack South Ossetia or Abkhazia.
Sergei Lavrov said such a guarantee, a precondition for Russia's complete withdrawal from Georgia within a month, had only been provided by the EU.
"We have only demanded that he [Mikheil Saakashvili] do one thing - pledge not to use force against South Ossetia and Abkhazia," he said.
During their visit on Monday to the Russian capital, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said the EU would act as a guarantor of peace in Georgia.
Lavrov also advised the EU to "be vigilant" and make sure Georgia does not use force against Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Russia's top diplomat reiterated that his country would honor its commitments to the two Georgian rebel republics and the EU.
Lavrov added that Russian peacekeepers would retain positions round South Ossetia and Abkhazia until the EU deploys, at it has said it will do, at least 200 observers to the region by October 1.
The diplomat said on Tuesday that OSCE and UN observers would also remain in South Ossetia and Abkhazia and that another 100 OSCE observers would soon be deployed to the buffer zone around South Ossetia.
He also added that by assuming legal guarantees and sending observers to the region, the European Union was sending a clear signal to the Georgian authorities that responsibility for the republics "lies with the EU, as well as the OSCE and the UN."
"Any provocations from now on will be provocations against the European Union," he said.
Lavrov also recalled Washington's pledges, made two years before the current crisis, to deny Georgia membership of NATO if it resorted to force in the Caucasus.
"Judge for yourself who does what, and who is engaging in what," the Russian minister said.
Russia recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia as sovereign states on August 26. Only Nicaragua has so far followed suit, but Belarus looks likely to do so later this month.
The current crisis began when Georgian troops attacked breakaway South Ossetia on August 8, triggering a five-day Russian operation to "force Georgia to accept peace."
Both South Ossetia and Abkhazia broke away from Georgia in the early 1990s amid bloody conflicts in which thousands of people lost their lives.
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