GEORGIA: Denmark urges Georgian dialogue with Russia to ensure lasting peace in Caucasus

Record ID: 643558

  • Title: GEORGIA: Denmark urges Georgian dialogue with Russia to ensure lasting peace in Caucasus
  • Date: 1st December 2008
  • Summary: (CEEF) TBILISI, GEORGIA (NOVEMBER 28, 2008) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 11. EXTERIOR OF GEORGIAN PARLIAMENT BUILDING 12. SAAKASHVILI WALKING INTO PARLIAMENTARY HEARING
  • Embargoed: 16th December 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Georgia
  • Country: Georgia
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA3LZSX00AF1VIPTW5MEKCANR6W
  • Story Text: Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Friday (November 28) in Tbilisi he supported Georgia's territorial integrity but at the same time underlined Russia's role in establishing lasting peace and cooperation in fighting terrorism.
    Fogh Rasmussen held talks with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili just hours before Saakashvili testified before a parliamentary inquiry into the conduct of the war with Russia.
    Speaking at a media briefing after talks, Fogh Rasmussen emphasised the crucial role of Russia.

    "In order to ensure a lasting political solution and a lasting peace it is necessary to engage Russia. Not only Georgia but the European Union and NATO need Russia as an active partner in international cooperation and Russia needs us," he said.
    Fogh Rasmussen also looked ahead to next week's NATO foreign ministers' meeting.

    "The most important thing is to see progress in the relationship between Georgia and NATO. So I think we should focus on concrete steps that could intensify the dialogue and intensify the cooperation between Georgia and NATO leading to what we stated as the ultimate goal in Bucharest: Georgian membership of NATO," he said.
    The U.S. government has recently taken a more cautious approach, and is expected to back away from granting fast-track NATO membership to ex-Soviet republics Georgia and Ukraine at the alliance's summit.
    Saakashvili remains popular among voters, but Georgia's fractious opposition is using the five-day conflict and its consequences to mount a fresh challenge to the pro-Western president, who came to power with the 2003 "Rose Revolution".
    Saakashvili on Friday defended his country's military assault on breakaway South Ossetia in August, saying Russian forces had invaded and Georgian citizens were in danger.

    "I have openly declared before and I say it again that yes, we made a decision to conduct military actions in Tskhinvali region. We made this decision, it was a difficult decision to make for any democratic authority which has responsibilities towards its nation and state," Saakashvili told the parliamentary commission investigating the war.
    Saakashvili has come under fire from opponents who accuse him of walking into a war Georgia could not possibly win.
    Saakashvili insists Russia was the aggressor.
    Months of skirmishes between separatists and Georgian troops erupted into war in August when Georgia sent in troops and tanks to retake the pro-Russian rebel region of South Ossetia, which threw off Tbilisi's rule in 1991-92.
    Russia responded with a powerful counter-strike that drove the Georgian army out of South Ossetia. Moscow's troops then continued their push into Georgian territory, saying they needed to prevent further Georgian attacks.
    Saakashvili said Tbilisi, having shelled Tskhinvali on the night of August 7 when a ceasefire with South Ossetian separatists broke down, then launched an operation to take the rebel capital the following morning because, he said, Russian forces were pouring across the border.
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