Nato ‘to resume ties with Russia’

Nato has agreed to a “conditional and graduated re-engagement” with Russia, the alliance’s secretary general says.

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said talks with Moscow, which were frozen over its war with Georgia in August, would resume.

The Nato-Russia Council is not being restored, but the Nato chief said lower-level talks would take place.

Foreign ministers meeting in Brussels also reiterated their support for eventual Nato membership for Georgia and Ukraine.

But Nato is deeply divided on the subject, and did not offer the countries their desired membership action plan (MAP).

Moscow strongly opposes their ambitions to join the alliance, and some countries, like Germany, France and Italy, fear offering them MAPs would provoke Russia, correspondents say.

Instead, ministers encouraged Tbilisi and Kiev to pursue reforms needed to join the alliance, without any timetable for entry.

Mr de Hoop Scheffer said that all previous decisions made by Nato heads of state regarding Georgia and Ukraine still stood.

“That includes very much that they will one day be members, if they so wish of course, and important to add, when they meet Nato standards,” he said.

The BBC’s Caroline Wyatt in Brussels says it is clear that neither country will become a member any time soon, and that assistance is all Nato can offer for now.

‘Problematic’

Nato ministers have not revived the Nato-Russia Council, but Mr de Hoop Scheffer said they had agreed to a resumption of lower-level dialogue.

“The Nato-Russia Council will meet on an informal basis to re-engage and to have discussions on the issues on which we will agree and, I would also like to add, on the issues on which we disagree,” he said.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, attending her final Nato meeting, insisted “this is not business as usual” and that she still considered Russia’s action in Georgia in August to be “unacceptable”.

She added: “This is not about competition and conflict and domination, but rather about co-operation in a framework in which one treats one’s neighbours, even if they were once a part of the Soviet Union, as equals in the international system.”

Russia’s permanent representative to Nato, Dmitry Rogozin, welcomed the decision and said his country was ready for dialogue.

“It is now clear that Nato has accepted the reality that has been shaped by Russia,” he said.

Thousands of Russian troops are still stationed in Georgia’s rebel regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

On Tuesday, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili warned the West of “grave risks of returning to business as usual” with Russia without holding it to account for its actions in Georgia.

“If the international response is not firm, Moscow will make other moves to redraw the region’s map by intimidation or force,” Mr Saakashvili wrote in an article in the Wall Street Journal.

If the international response is not firm, Moscow will make other moves to redraw the region’s map
Mikhail Saakashvili

‘No shortcuts’

Nato was deeply divided on how to proceed following the conflict in August and had to sidestep some bruising internal debates to reach the day’s decisions, correspondents say.

While the US and newer Nato members, from the former Warsaw Pact, are keen to draw Georgia and Ukraine closer, others like Germany and France are wary of antagonising Russia, a key energy supplier.

Nato also does not want Russia to think it has a veto over who joins the alliance, the BBC’s Caroline Wyatt says.

The war also raised doubts among many members over whether Georgia, with its disputed territories, was ready to join the bloc or remained too volatile.

Ukraine, meanwhile, has been beset by political turbulence, with the country split on Nato membership.

Correspondents says it will be a struggle for the alliance to prevent divisions on the issue hardening into permanent fault lines.

 

Georgia accuses Russia of provocation

Georgia said on Thursday that Russia had deployed 2,000 additional troops into South Ossetia in the past week and was preparing “provocations” in the breakaway territory. “In the past week, Russia increased the number of troops by 2,000 to 7,000 staff,” Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili told a news conference. “We fear Russia is preparing provocations in South Ossetia,” he said. There was no immediate response from Russian authorities. Utiashvili said dozens of Russian armoured vehicles had been positioned in the disputed Akhalgori region, the southeastern corner of South Ossetia which Georgia insists should be returned to Tbilisi’s control under a French-brokered ceasefire deal. Russia sent troops and tanks into Georgia in August to repel an offensive by the Georgian military to retake pro-Russian South Ossetia, which threw off Tbilisi’s rule in 1991-92. Russia’s powerful counter-strike drove the Georgian Army out of South Ossetia, and Moscow’s troops then pushed further into Georgia, saying they needed to prevent Georgian attacks. The West condemned Russia for a “disproportionate response” and Russian troops have since pulled back from buffer zones around South Ossetia and a second breakaway region, Abkhazia. The Kremlin has recognised both rebel regions as independent states and said it would station 7,600 troops there to provide security. A 225-strong European Union mission is monitoring the ceasefire, patrolling the former buffer zone around South Ossetia up to its de facto border. Russia says the mission will not be allowed to operate inside South Ossetia.

 

US warns Russia of lasting impact

US warns Russia of lasting impact

The US defence chief has warned relations with Russia could be damaged for years if Moscow does not step back from “aggressive” actions in Georgia.

Russian troops have begun handing back the town of Gori to the Georgians

But Robert Gates said he did not see a need for US military force in Georgia. His words came as Moscow said the idea of Georgian territorial integrity was an irrelevance. Georgia’s breakaway regions – Abkhazia and South Ossetia – would never agree to being part of Georgia again, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. Earlier, Russia said it had began handing back the town of Gori to Georgian police but insisted its troops would stay in the area. A Russian general said his forces were there to remove weaponry and help restore law and order in Gori, which lies some 15km (10 miles) from South Ossetia and on a key route to the Georgian capital, Tbilisi. Elsewhere, eyewitnesses in the Georgian Black Sea port of Poti said that Russian troops had entered the town in armoured vehicles. Moscow had earlier denied the reports but Russia’s deputy chief of staff, Gen Anatoly Nogovitsyn, told a televised news conference it was legitimate for Russians to be in Poti as part of intelligence-gathering operations. Meanwhile, Reuters reported that more than 100 Russian vehicles, some of them armoured, had gathered outside the major western Georgian town of Zugdidi. Despite concerns that Moscow may not be keen quickly to leave Georgian territory, Mr Gates said the Russians did seem to be pulling back. “They appear to be withdrawing their forces back towards Abkhazia and to the zone of conflict… towards South Ossetia,” he said. Gen James Cartwright, vice-chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, also said he believed Russia was “generally complying” with the terms of the truce, which called for its withdrawal from hostilities. But, Mr Gates warned: “If Russia does not step back from its aggressive posture and actions in Georgia, the US-Russian relationship could be adversely affected for years to come.” The Russians were trying to redress what they regarded as the many concessions forced on them after the breakup of the Soviet Union and were trying to “reassert their international status”, Mr Gates said. Georgia was also being punished for its efforts to integrate with the West and in particular to join Nato, the defence secretary went on. The BBC’s Justin Webb in Washington says Mr Gates’s address was the first effort by a senior member of the Bush administration to set out what the Americans believe is happening in Russia. But while Mr Gates said Russia’s aggressive posture was not acceptable, our correspondent says, he took an unusual step for the Bush administration in ruling out the use of US force. This is not a fight that America wants to have. Withdrawal Georgia attacked the rebel region of South Ossetia from Gori a week ago, prompting Russian retaliation. The Georgians say it followed continuous provocation. Both sides agreed to a French-brokered ceasefire on Tuesday, amid international concern, but it has seemed fragile so far. Earlier on Thursday in Moscow, Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev said Russia would respect any decision South Ossetia and Abkhazia made about their future status. His words followed warnings from the US that Russia had to respect Georgia’s territorial sovereignty and withdraw its forces. Meanwhile, the US has sent its second shipment of humanitarian aid into Georgia. Russia has questioned whether the deliveries contain only humanitarian supplies.

Russia has questioned what is in US aid deliveries to Georgia