Russia wins backing over Georgia conflict

http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=239831...

Saturday, 6 September, 2008, 09:14 AM Doha Time

MOSCOW: Russia won backing over Georgia yesterday from six heads of ex-Soviet states and hit out at the US for sending a navy flagship to a key Georgian port where its troops have been patrolling.

The renewed support for Russia from the leaders of a Moscow-dominated bloc called the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) came as US Vice-President Dick Cheney wrapped up a tour of America’s allies in the region.

Cheney told Ukraine’s squabbling leaders that they must unite on a pro-Western course if they wanted to avoid the prospect of a Russian invasion similar to the one that befell Georgia last month.
“We believe in the right of men and women to live without the threat of tyranny, economic blackmail or military invasion or intimidation. Ukraine’s best hope to overcome these threats is to be united,” Cheney said in Kiev.

As the war of words between Russia and the US intensified, Moscow angrily questioned why Washington had chosen one of its most sophisticated warships, the USS Mount Whitney, to transport aid to the Black Sea port of Poti.

Washington says the ship is there to deliver vital aid to Georgian refugees but a senior Russian official suggested it might be serving military purposes.
“Naval ships of that class can hardly deliver a large amount of aid,” foreign ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko told journalists, underlining instead the ship’s sophisticated surveillance technology.
Since bombing Poti last month during the war with Georgia, Russia has deployed troops at checkpoints near the strategically important port, who patrol in the town from time to time.

Russia sent hundreds of tanks and troops into Georgian territory on August 8 in what it says was a response to a Georgian offensive to regain control of South Ossetia from Moscow-backed separatists.

Moscow withdrew the bulk of its forces from Georgia under a French-brokered ceasefire agreement, but it has still kept thousands of troops deployed in the country, saying it needs security guarantees before it pulls out completely.

Russia last week recognised South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another breakaway region, as independent states, drawing fierce condemnation from Georgia and many Western countries.

It had perhaps hoped that the CSTO meeting in Moscow featuring the leaders of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, would provide a suitable occasion for its allies to follow suit.
However, some fear such a move could complicate other territorial disputes in the region and they instead signed a declaration of support for Russia’s actions in Georgia.

“The partners in the organisation have given a unanimously negative assessment of Georgia’s actions, Georgia’s aggression in South Ossetia,” Medvedev said at the closure of the summit.

He also warned against any attempt to rearm Georgia, saying that Tbilisi’s allies were in danger of drawing the wrong lessons from last month’s conflict.

“We certainly don’t want incorrect conclusions to be drawn from this conflict,” Medvedev said at a news conference in Moscow.

“We don’t want Georgia, which was the aggressor, to continue rearming, moreover in an uncontrolled way with incomprehensible purposes and completely unclear consequences,” he said.

Medvedev added: “This is a lesson for the whole international community, including for those who decide to provide additional finance and arms co-operation for Georgia.”

Lower-ranking Russian officials have repeatedly accused the US of covertly rearming its partner Georgia under cover of aid deliveries, which Washington has made by sea and air.

In Tbilisi on Thursday, Cheney accused Russia of an “illegitimate” invasion to redraw the map of Georgia and unveiled a $1bn aid package to help reconstruction.
His trip to Georgia coincided with an announcement by the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe) that it had sent military observers into a buffer zone between Russian and Georgian troops for the first time since the conflict.

Meanwhile, EU foreign ministers travelled from Paris to Avignon on Friday aboard a special high-speed train decked out in European colours in a show of unity over the Georgia crisis. – AFP

Cheney's statement below is soooooo blatantly hypocritical, it's laughable!

“We believe in the right of men and women to live without the threat of tyranny, economic blackmail or military invasion or intimidation. Ukraine’s best hope to overcome these threats is to be united,”