International talks on Russia-Georgia conflict to resume in May

International talks on Russia-Georgia conflict to resume in May

17.04.09 04:58

The fifth round of international talks aimed to solve outstanding issues left over by the Russia- Georgia war last August will be held here on May 18-19, mediators of the talks said in a statement on Thursday.

The series of talks, initiated last October, are co-chaired by the European Union, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the United Nations.

Other parties to the talks include Russia, Georgia, the United States as well as Georgia's two breakaway regions, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which were recognized as independent states by Russia shortly after the five-day war in August, Xinhua reported.

The last round of talks were held in February, during which participants agreed on a mechanism to prevent and solve security incidents in and around the sensitive South Ossetia and Abkhazia regions. But the parties failed to resolve long-term security and humanitarian issues.

The Georgian interior ministry charged that pro-Putin Russian politicians had tasked the detainee, Alexander Kuznetsov, to provoke a shoot-out on the administrative border of the breakaway region of South Ossetia. Kuznetsov is reportedly a member of Nashi (Our), a Russian youth movement supporting Prime Minister Vladimer Putin that had announced plans to travel from the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali, to Tbilisi to join in protests against Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.

In videotaped testimony released by the police, Kuznetsov admitted that he was tasked by members of the Russian Duma to instigate an exchange of gunfire between Georgian police and Russian guards accompanying Nashi members as they attempted to cross into Georgian-controlled territory from South Ossetia.

It was not immediately clear where Kuznetsov was arrested. Moscow has not yet publicly responded to the incident.

Georgia’s interior ministry said that Kuznetsov was handed over to Switzerland’s Tbilisi embassy, which has acted as Russia’s diplomatic go-between with Georgia after Tbilisi cut off ties with Moscow in 2008.

Will NATO in Georgia thwart efforts to reset US-Russian relations?

17 April, 2009, 10:02

Russia has criticised NATO's plans to hold exercises in Georgia next month, saying they could destabilize the sensitive region.

Moscow has voiced its displeasure about the military exercises in Georgia, scheduled to begin on May 3rd and continue for one month, especially as they are happening at a time when the US administration of Barack Obama has called for a 'resetting' relations with Russia.

NATO insists the exercises pose no threat, and says Russia is welcome to take part, but Russian officials are interpreting the planned exercises as a sign that not everyone in the US is ready to push the reset button with Russia.

On one hand, Russian and American leaders had agreed to work together on making the world a safer place. On the other, American troops are on their way to the Russian border to take part in NATO military exercises in Georgia next month.

Dr. Ivan Eland, from the Independent Institute's Center on Peace & Liberty, blames some of Obama’s own team for their old guard views on foreign policy.

“This is an example of where even the most liberal aspects of the American political spectrum still buy into this internationalism and NATO alliances and really neo-containment of Russia. Even though they have a gentler face than the Bush administration, which was quite hawkish,” said Eland.

Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov echoed concerns over the NATO military presence in this sensitive region:

Global security would benefit if plans for drastic cuts in Russian and American nuclear arsenals are carried out.

Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev agreed to negotiate a new reduction treaty, but a fresh report published by the Federation of American scientists is causing a stir on both sides of the Atlantic.

While generally supporting the idea of nuclear disarmament, the report suggests the US chooses several sensitive targets to cripple the Russian economy. The authors go as far as to name specific Russian power plants and steel works slated for annihilation.

Putting the bluntness of the suggestion aside, other experts say that these plans are simply uncalled for:

“There is no such scenario in my view that the US or Russia faces that they cannot deal with conventional weaponry, except a potential attack by another country using nuclear weapons,” concludes Deryl Kimball, the executive director of Arms Control Association.

While the report was not commissioned by Obama’s administration, the timing could not be worse.

The desire to rekindle a warm relationship has been expressed by the White House, but to make that possible, they first have to figure out what they really want to do: find a new way with Russia, or continue down their old path?

Russia's envoy to NATO Dmitry Rogozin says NATO exercises in Georgia will do more harm than good:

Rogozin also noted that “Russia is behaving quite rationally and I think that even in Georgia there are people who back our appeal to the alliance to call-off the games. No one needs these games in the South Caucasus at the moment.”