1329-09-09-2008
Esteemed colleagues,
Thank you for attending this press conference which I would like to use to tell you in greater detail about the accords reached yesterday at the Russian and French presidents" meeting and to answer questions you might have after yesterday"s press conference of Dmitry Medvedev and Nicolas Sarkozy at Maindorf Castle.
The meeting, in which European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and EU Secretary General Javier Solana also took part, was dedicated to discussion of ways for practical realization of the six items endorsed in Moscow on August 12 that have become known as the Medvedev-Sarkozy plan.
At the end of the talks a document was agreed upon that is entitled "Exposition of the Substance of the Accords between President Dmitry Medvedev of the Russian Federation and President of Nicolas Sarkozy of the French Republics on the Implementation of the Plan of 12 August 2008"; it is posted on the Russian Foreign Ministry"s website. I think that you may already have acquainted yourself with it, and I would like to give our assessment of this important document. The chief thing, we believe, is that Russia had been upholding its underlying approach from the very beginning of the efforts to lead the situation out of crisis. I mean, firstly, the necessity to complete the return of Georgian forces to the barracks; secondly, to agree on the guarantees of nonuse of force against Abkhazia and South Ossetia; and thirdly, to deploy international presences, necessarily with EU participation, in the security zones around Abkhazia and South Ossetia. This is the approach agreed upon in the document endorsed yesterday by the two presidents. The deployment of international observers will be done in numbers sufficient to replace the Russian peacekeepers so that the Russian peacekeepers can calmly leave these security zones around Abkhazia and South Ossetia. By the same token the responsibility for the nonrepetition of acts of Georgian aggression against either republic will now lie with the international presences. In the framework of these presences the presence of at least 200 EU observers will be agreed on. We appreciate the role the EU has assumed and back more active EU participation in providing practical support to them and in dealing with security issues in Europe as a whole.
That consecutiveness of actions is very understandable: first the international community takes the necessary legal and practical measures that must prevent any new provocations against Tskhinval and Sukhum and only then our peacekeeping forces depart Georgian territory. This will be done within ten days after the international observers involving at least 200 EU representatives have deployed their presence on the ground.
We also consider that the European Union has assumed the role as the chief guarantor of the principle of nonuse of force. At yesterday"s meeting French President Sarkozy transmitted to Russian President Medvedev a letter addressed to Mikhail Saakashvili that obliges Georgia to confirm the nonuse of force against Abkhazia and South Ossetia. He also transmitted to us the response letter of Mikhail Saakashvili, in which those commitments are confirmed. We also asked the colleagues, which they agreed to, that Barroso and Solana authenticate these commitments on paper on behalf of the European Union together with President Sarkozy.
So that, I shall repeat, this satisfies us, we had sought just this kind of specific act which would make it possible to conscientiously fulfill the August 12 accords without any distortion. There are no ambiguities left at present.
As the very first step under the nonuse of force guarantees received yesterday, Russian peacekeepers will already within the next seven days vacate five observation posts on the line from Poti to Senaki. They will depart the security zones around South Ossetia within ten days after the international mechanisms I have mentioned are deployed there, including, I repeat, at least 200 European Union observers. Of course, 100 OSCE observers have yet to be additionally sent into the security zone around South Ossetia. Their number was already agreed. Now agreeing on the modalities of their mandate is being completed in Vienna. The formulations of the document adopted yesterday should remove all questions as to where the OSCE observers will be deployed. They will be deployed around South Ossetia so as to help prevent any new relapse of use of force by Tbilisi. The OSCE and UN observers will stay inside South Ossetia and inside Abkhazia respectively that were there earlier. Naturally they will stay there upon confirmation of the consent to this of Tskhinval and Sukhum. They will stay in the same numbers and in the places where they were before August 7.
The document also contemplates starting already on October 15 the international discussion provided for in the Medvedev-Sarkozy plan of August 12. The range of participants in that discussion is not written down in the document, but we have clearly stated that South Ossetia and Abkhazia must receive the right to participate in it. The chief theme of the discussion will be considering ways for ensuring security and stability in the region - a hugely important theme, given the entire history of the conflicts in that area. We will seek to ensure that the discussion ends with a clear understanding by all the participants of the necessity not to allow war here any more and this will, of course, presuppose taking action to prevent a new militarization of Georgia.
You know the pace at which offensive arms were flowing into Georgia over the last few years. We are all perfectly aware of its record military budget growth, probably the world"s largest, and of how the current presidential regime used those weapons. We are concerned by attempts to rearm the Georgian leadership. We are raising these questions at international forums where, in particular, we note that, under the OSCE and EU rules alike, it is necessary to refrain from supplies of arms, especially offensive, to conflict zones. And the Wassenaar Arrangement has the principle that requires preventing destabilizing accumulations of conventional arms. We are currently adducing within the Wassenaar Arrangement mechanisms specific data showing how Georgia"s armament went on in recent years. So far we haven"t heard any intelligible answer to the questions raised by us. We hope that this conversation will be continued.
I also want to say a few words about how these principles agreed yesterday and the ways for their fulfillment will really be translated into practice. We intend to continue fulfilling everything signed by us and we very much hope that now that the EU has become the guarantor in respect of the actions of the Georgian side Georgia and the Georgian leadership are going to fulfill their obligations and commitments likewise.
Unfortunately, Tbilisi"s rude and anti-Russian rhetoric has not stopped. Yesterday Saakashvili at the press conference in the presence of the French and EU President uttered an outright lie. He again said that Georgia had not started the war, that Russia had started it and that Russia had occupied Georgia. He even allowed himself to say that this wasn"t the first time Russia had occupied Georgia, citing the events of the 19th century. Evidently he meant the Georgiyevsky Treaty that enabled Georgia to preserve its country in the face of threats from an entirely different direction. Then Georgia sought protection from Russia. I guess where Mr. Saakashvili received education, including, evidently, historical training. This kind of insulting attitude to the history of one"s own people and of its ties with its neighbors suggest the thought that for some reason those leaders engage in such things that impetuously drag their countries into NATO; a coincidence, evidently, not fortuitous.
I wouldn"t like to wrap up the press conference on this note. I shall stress once again - we highly appreciate the initiative role of France, which from the very start of this crisis sought both in its own capacity and in its capacity as the president of the European Union to find the ways to normalize the situation and to prevent a resumption of war. We are satisfied that these efforts yesterday made it possible to take a very important step towards this goal.
Question: In the format of the international presence - was the possibility discussed of the participation of Russian peacekeepers in it? Were the differences discussed in the interpretation of item six of the Medvedev-Sarkozy agreement - in the translation some differences did appear: guarantees of security in Abkhazia and South Ossetia or for Abkhazia and South Ossetia? And was the problem of Russia"s recognition of the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia discussed that is somewhat at variance with the agreement?
Foreign Minister Lavrov: The first question is whether Russian citizens participate in the international missions that already operate in the region. There are our citizens there. They are part of the staff of the OSCE Mission, which was principally concerned with Georgian-South Ossetian relations, and they are part of the staff of the UN Observer Mission in Abkhazia. As to additional observers, honestly, this isn"t a matter of principle whether we should participate there or not. Our armed forces currently in Abkhazia and South Ossetia in response to the request of their leaderships ensure their security. Security in Abkhazia and in South Ossetia is reliably ensured by these contingents. The difference in the Russian and French texts of August 12 was practically not discussed. It was decided to record the agreement that the international discussion will be dedicated to ways of ensuring stability and security in the region. This is important because, as I"ve said, the number one task consists of finding steps and accords which would not make it possible to again lead to Georgia"s militarization. We know what this may end in.
Regarding our recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia - President Medvedev yesterday at the press conference reaffirmed what he had told President Sarkozy during the talks. This is a final and irrevocable decision. Now we are busy, we will start doing it right today, with the concrete formalization of a juridical base for our relations with Tskhinval and Sukhum.
09-09-2008
http://www.mid.ru/brp_4.nsf/e78a48070f128a7b43256999005bcbb3/b16a39da9fedfc2cc32574c1002cbd2f?OpenDocument
