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08Aug08
Russian envoy says NATO encouraged Georgia –
Russia’s envoy to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, has sent an official note to representatives of all member countries in Brussels in connection with Georgia’s military actions against South Ossetia. He’s calling on them not to support Mikhail Saakashvili.
"Russia has already begun consultations with the ambassadors of the NATO countries and consultations with NATO military representatives will be held tomorrow," Rogozin said. "We will caution them against continuing to further support Saakashvili."
Rogozin says Georgian aggression against South Ossetia is obvious.
"It is an undisguised aggression accompanied by a mass propaganda war," he said.
Rogozin has linked Friday’s onslaught to the support given to Saakashvili at the recent NATO summit in Bucharest. At the meeting, Rogozin says, it "was hinted Georgia has prospects in NATO."
South Ossetia close to humanitarian disaster – Russian FM
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says he hopes Georgia’s Western partners take note of what has happened in South Ossetia and draw conclusions.
"It all confirms our numerous warnings addressed to the international community that it is necessary to pay attention to massive arms purchasing by Georgia during several years. Now we see how these arms and Georgian special troops who had been trained by foreign specialists are used," he said.
The FM also accused the Georgian authorities of ignoring the UN Security Council’s call to observe a ceasefire during the Olympic Games in Beijing.
‘Saakashvili is a murderer’
The President of the breakaway republic of South Ossetia Eduard Kokoity claimis hundreds of residents have been killed by Georgian shelling.
"It is the third genocide of the Ossetian people from the side of Georgia, and Saakashvili is the main murderer," Kokoity said.
Abkhazia reacts
The President of Georgia’s other breakaway republic, Abkhazia, is planning to hold a Security Council session in connection with the military actions in South Ossetia. Sergey Bagapsh will hold the meeting in the Abkhazian town of Ochamchira, according to Russia’s Ria Novosti news agency.
This will be the second session of the Abkhazian Security Council in a day.
Sergey Bagapsh also said that a decision has been made to send a thousand of volunteers to South Ossetia.
Meanwhile, a Russian effort at the UN to get both sides to renounce violence has failed to win backing at the Security Council.
The Security Council rejected a Russia-drafted resolution calling on Georgia and South Ossetia to immediately put down their weapons.
The US, Britain and some other members backed the Georgians in rejecting a phrase in the three-sentence statement that would have required both sides "to renounce the use of force."
[Source: Russia Today, Moscow, 08Aug08]
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