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Russia Agrees to Limited Pullout From Georgia
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Russia Agrees to Limited Pullout From Georgia
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By ELLEN BARRY and DAN BILEFSKY
MOSCOW - After a tense four-hour meeting with President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, Russia"s president, Dmitri A. Medvedev, announced Monday that Russia agreed to withdraw its troops by mid-October from its positions in Georgia outside the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
He also agreed to allow 200 observers from the European Union to monitor the conflict, a step that Russia had resisted. But Mr. Medvedev said Russia would stand by its decision to recognize the two breakaway regions as independent nations.
"We have made our choice," he said at a joint news conference afterward. "This is a final and irreversible choice. This is an irrevocable decision."
Mr. Medvedev"s comments were greeted defiantly by the Georgian president, Mikheil Saakashvili, in Tbilisi, where Mr. Sarkozy brought the agreement later on Monday.
Mr. Saakashvili offered cautious approval of the deal but openly questioned whether Moscow could be trusted, saying he had received written assurances from the European Union that it would protect Georgia"s territorial integrity.
"There is no way Georgia will ever give up a piece of its sovereignty, a piece of its territory," he said. "Of course they should get the hell out of the territories they control."
Mr. Sarkozy"s grueling day underlined the challenge facing European mediators as they try to bring the two sides together. The conflict has become a test for the European Union"s ambition to become a major foreign policy player on a par with the United States, and a personal credibility test for the French president, who currently holds the bloc"s rotating presidency.
Mr. Sarkozy"s task is harder because the European Union has been bitterly divided over how to manage its relationship with Russia. Some member nations, like France, have struggled to safeguard Europe"s economic interests in Russia, while formerly Communist countries like Poland want the bloc to punish Russia for failing to uphold human rights and respect democratic norms.
At times, Mr. Sarkozy"s frustration showed - as when a reporter in Moscow asked if he had allowed Russia to alter Georgia"s borders.
"It was not up to Russia to define Georgia"s borders or frontiers," he said. "The Russians will say what they wish to say."
The conflict began Aug. 7, when Georgia attacked the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali and Russian troops poured across the border in response. More than a month later, Russian troops continue to occupy Georgian territory outside the enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia despite a cease-fire agreement that called on both sides to withdraw troops to their positions before the fighting broke out.
Throughout the crisis, Russia has excoriated the American role in the region, but welcomed intervention by the European Union. As he stood beside Mr. Sarkozy, praising the Europeans as "our natural partners, our key partners," Mr. Medvedev claimed that the United States was responsible for the attacks on Tskhinvali.
Georgia, he said, "received the blessing of one government. I can"t say how it was given, whether through direct instruction or tacit approval. But there is no doubt that it happened."
He continued: "They launched an idiotic escapade. People were killed. And now all of Georgia is paying for it."
If implemented, the agreement will go a long way toward reconciling outstanding conflicts from the original cease-fire agreement reached on Aug. 12. The roughly 200 European Union observers, working with monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, would replace Russian peacekeepers in the security zone outside the two enclaves and in other disputed areas, so that Russian troops would pull back.
The agreement also requires Russia to withdraw five peacekeeping posts in the west of Georgia, between the cities of Poti and Senaki, within seven days. In return, Georgia is required to withdraw its forces to their bases by Oct. 1. Mr. Medvedev also said he had received a written commitment by Georgia, backed by France and the European Union, that it would not use force on the enclaves.
In an interview after a news conference in Tbilisi, Mr. Saakashvili said he had refused to sign a document pledging not to use force because that matter was covered in the cease-fire deal of Aug. 12.
Monday"s agreement - and, in particular, Russian cooperation with Mr. Sarkozy - could have an impact among European leaders, said Tomas Valasek, a foreign policy specialist at the Center for European Reform, a research group in London.
"Those within Europe who have argued for nonconfrontation and against isolating Russia, like Germany, will now feel justified," he said. "They will say engagement works."
The decision came a day before European officials were due to meet in France for discussions, to be attended by President Viktor A. Yushchenko of Ukraine, on whether to offer Ukraine the possibility of future membership in the European Union, a move that Russia opposes. Monday"s announcement makes Ukraine"s case less likely to move forward, Mr. Valasek said.
Russia plans to establish formal diplomatic relations with governments in Sukhumi and Tskhinvali, the Abkhaz and South Ossetian capitals, on Tuesday. Two weeks after Mr. Medvedev announced the decision to formally recognize them, Nicaragua has followed suit.
Aleksandr G. Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, said Monday that the Belorussian Parliament might take up the matter after elections this month.
At the news conference, Mr. Medvedev said he was certain that over time, other governments would come to accept the new borders.
"We realize everything changes in this world, including recognition or nonrecognition of this or that state," he said. "This is a reality that should be taken into account by our European partners."
"If our colleagues are ready to do it right here and right now," he added, "we wouldn"t be opposed to it."
Meanwhile, Georgia and Russia carried their dispute over the breakaway enclaves to the International Court of Justice in The Hague on Monday, as three days of hearings began over Georgia"s request for an injunction ordering Russia to stop "terrorizing" ethnic Georgians and to allow refugees to return to their homes.
Georgia"s first deputy minister of justice, Tina Bujaliani, said her country was urgently turning to the court, the United Nations" highest, "at a time of great distress in its history, a time when hundreds of thousands of its nationals are persecuted and displaced from their homes only because they are Georgians."
Russia, as expected, challenged the court"s jurisdiction and asked it to dismiss the Georgian application.
Ellen Barry reported from Moscow, and Dan Bilefsky from Tbilisi, Georgia.Graham Bowley contributed reporting from New York, Michael Schwirtz from Moscow, and Marlise Simons from Paris.
September 9, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/09/world/europe/09georgia.html?sq=medvedev&st=cse&scp=2&pagewanted=print
Док. 490233
Опублик.: 15.09.08
Число обращений: 254
Медведев Дмитрий Анатольевич
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