Georgia warns of war risk with Russia
08/05/2008 10:48:00 PM
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili warned Thursday of a risk of war with Russia amid tension over a separatist region, as Moscow began dual leadership under President Dmitry Medvedev and his mentor, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili warned Thursday of a risk of war with Russia amid tension over a separatist region, as Moscow began dual leadership under President Dmitry Medvedev and his mentor, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
"I think that several days ago we were close and this threat remains. But for armed conflict you need two sides, and the Georgian side does not want this," Saakashvili told Russian journalists in the Georgian city of Batumi.
"Georgia could not fight Russia. We do not have enough battle-ready units and NATO will not help us with this," said Saakashvili, according to news agency reports.
The Georgian leader has lobbied for his former Soviet republic to join NATO.
The warning came as tensions mounted over the Georgian separatist region of Abkhazia, where Georgia has accused Russian peacekeeping troops of backing the separatists.
Medvedev, who was inaugurated as president on Wednesday, taking over from Putin, is untested on foreign policy and overshadowed by his powerful mentor.
Putin, who is known for his fiery pronouncements on Western moves in ex-Soviet states, was confirmed in the prime minister's post on Thursday.
Tensions over Abkhazia have prompted expressions of concern from the United Nations, the European Union and the United States.
On Thursday, the EU appeared sufficiently concerned to prepare a ministerial delegation to visit Georgia on Monday in a bid to try to lower the tension in the region, according to one source.
The foreign ministers of Slovenia, Sweden Poland and Lithuania would among those heading for Tbilisi, an EU diplomat in Brussels told AFP.
The Slovenia EU presidency was unable to confirm the information, but also did not deny it.
On Tuesday, the United States bluntly urged Russia to "cease from further provocations" in Abkhazia and another Georgian rebel region, South Ossetia.
Abkhazia and South Ossetia broke away from Georgia in the early 1990s in conflicts that killed several thousand people and led hundreds of thousands of Georgians to flee their homes.
The two regions have since operated as de facto independent statelets with strong backing from Russia, which has further boosted links with the separatists after recognition of Kosovo's independence by Western countries.
A Kremlin official in Moscow reacted sharply to Saakashvili's comments on Thursday. It was "difficult to believe" the Georgian leader had said the two neighbours were close to war, he said.
"Any responsible politician, never mind a head of state, could hardly throw around such pronouncements," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Russia earlier accused Georgia of preparing to invade Abkhazia and sent additional peacekeepers to the region, bringing the total number of its soldiers in the area to more than 2,500.
Russia's defence ministry on Thursday said it could raise troop levels further to 3,000 servicemen, the maximum allowed under accords to end the fighting between Georgia and Abkhaz rebels.
Georgia has denied any preparations for an attack on Abkhazia saying it wants a peaceful resolution of the stand-off. It maintains that it is Russia that is stirring up tensions in the volatile Caucasus region.
"If someone wanted to annexe part of Georgia then this would unavoidably lead to consequences in the north Caucasus," Saakashvili was quoted as saying, in reference to troubled Russian provinces just to the north of Georgia, such as war-ravaged Chechnya.
Meanwhile the Abkhaz separatist leadership on Thursday claimed it had shot down another Georgian unmanned spy plane, the latest in a series of such claims. Georgia denied it occurred.
Tensions spiked last month when Georgia said a Russian fighter jet had shot down one of its unmanned spy planes, calling it "an act of aggression." Russia denied any involvement.
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