Russia - Georgia: Breaking Diplomatic Ties
Source: Al-Manar TV, 3-9-2008
Russia and Georgia have shut their embassies in each other's capitals following Tbilisi's decision to cut diplomatic ties with Moscow.
"The Russian embassy in Georgia is no longer functioning. The consular section is closed as well, pending future directives from Moscow," embassy spokesman Alexander Savonov announced in Tbilisi.
In Moscow, Georgia's charge d'affaires Givi Shugarov noted that the country's embassy had also ceased its diplomatic functions.
"As of now the embassy has stopped its diplomatic activity," he said, adding that "the consulate of Georgia continues to work as usual."
Georgia on Tuesday formally broke diplomatic relations with Russia.
Mean while, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said that Moscow no longer considered Mikheil Saakashvili as Georgia's leader, calling him a "political corpse" and accusing his regime of "aggression that ended in many deaths."
Speaking in an interview on Russian T.V, Medvedev again accused Washington of helping Tbilisi "build its war machine" and urged the United States to review its relations with the country.
"For us, the present Georgian regime has collapsed. President Saakashvili no longer exists in our eyes. He is a political corpse," he said.
Medvedev repeated that Moscow was ready to hold talks with the international community "on all sorts of questions, including post-conflict resolution in the region" of the Caucasus.
"But we would like the international community to remember who began the aggression and who is responsible for people's deaths," he added.
The Kremlin leader said the US should reconsider its relations with Tbilisi "because it has put Georgia in a very difficult position, caused serious destabilization and launched an aggression that ended in many deaths."
In a swift retort, Georgia's national Security Council secretary Alexander Lomaia said: "It's utterly deplorable for the leader of a great country to use methods unacceptable in a civilized world to undermine the legitimacy of the Georgian government."
"The Russian president has lost control, because his efforts to depose the Georgian government have failed.
Lomaia added that "the Georgian president is a democratically-elected leader, he and his government enjoy the support of the Georgian people and the international community".
For his part, the new US envoy to NATO said in an interview published Wednesday that the alliance "must strengthen its defense of the three Baltic countries: Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania after Russia's assault on Georgia".
After an emergency summit of European Union leaders in Brussels, Kurt Volker said it was important that NATO remained "credible".
"Those countries are members of NATO; so if there is any attack on those countries we will all respond," Volker warned.
"They are feeling a little rattled by seeing Russia use military force to invade a sovereign, small neighboring country. We need to send signals to shore them up a little bit."
The US envoy continued: "We need to do what NATO ought to do, not in a provocative way and not in a rushed or hasty way. But NATO being credible is what's important."
Russia and Georgia have shut their embassies in each other's capitals following Tbilisi's decision to cut diplomatic ties with Moscow.
"The Russian embassy in Georgia is no longer functioning. The consular section is closed as well, pending future directives from Moscow," embassy spokesman Alexander Savonov announced in Tbilisi.
In Moscow, Georgia's charge d'affaires Givi Shugarov noted that the country's embassy had also ceased its diplomatic functions.
"As of now the embassy has stopped its diplomatic activity," he said, adding that "the consulate of Georgia continues to work as usual."
Georgia on Tuesday formally broke diplomatic relations with Russia.
Mean while, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said that Moscow no longer considered Mikheil Saakashvili as Georgia's leader, calling him a "political corpse" and accusing his regime of "aggression that ended in many deaths."
Speaking in an interview on Russian T.V, Medvedev again accused Washington of helping Tbilisi "build its war machine" and urged the United States to review its relations with the country.
"For us, the present Georgian regime has collapsed. President Saakashvili no longer exists in our eyes. He is a political corpse," he said.
Medvedev repeated that Moscow was ready to hold talks with the international community "on all sorts of questions, including post-conflict resolution in the region" of the Caucasus.
"But we would like the international community to remember who began the aggression and who is responsible for people's deaths," he added.
The Kremlin leader said the US should reconsider its relations with Tbilisi "because it has put Georgia in a very difficult position, caused serious destabilization and launched an aggression that ended in many deaths."
In a swift retort, Georgia's national Security Council secretary Alexander Lomaia said: "It's utterly deplorable for the leader of a great country to use methods unacceptable in a civilized world to undermine the legitimacy of the Georgian government."
"The Russian president has lost control, because his efforts to depose the Georgian government have failed.
Lomaia added that "the Georgian president is a democratically-elected leader, he and his government enjoy the support of the Georgian people and the international community".
For his part, the new US envoy to NATO said in an interview published Wednesday that the alliance "must strengthen its defense of the three Baltic countries: Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania after Russia's assault on Georgia".
After an emergency summit of European Union leaders in Brussels, Kurt Volker said it was important that NATO remained "credible".
"Those countries are members of NATO; so if there is any attack on those countries we will all respond," Volker warned.
"They are feeling a little rattled by seeing Russia use military force to invade a sovereign, small neighboring country. We need to send signals to shore them up a little bit."
The US envoy continued: "We need to do what NATO ought to do, not in a provocative way and not in a rushed or hasty way. But NATO being credible is what's important."
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