Tension between Russia and Georgia sours NATO meeting
28.09.2006
Tension between Russia and Georgia sours NATO meeting
PORTOROZ, Slovenia Russia's defense minister accused eastern European members of NATO of illegally supplying Soviet-made arms to Georgia — a country which has angered Moscow by arresting Russian military officers on espionage charges.
"These NATO members are violating international practice," Sergei Ivanov said after talks with NATO ministers. "This is a form of piracy."
He declined to name specific nations, but said they were from the "younger generation of NATO members" — a reference to the 10 former communist nations that defied Russian opposition to join the Western alliance after the end of the Cold War.
Ivanov held tense talks with the NATO allies, who have irritated Moscow by agreeing to deepen ties with Georgia — a country Ivanov has denounced as a "bandit" state.
He told a news conference that Georgia's arrest of Russian soldiers Wednesday was an attempt to force his country's troops out of the country so the Georgian authorities could pursue a "military solution" to its conflicts with two pro-Russian breakaway provinces.
Slovenia (6) -- Analyses-- July-September 2006
The tension
12.04.2006
Long strained relations between Russia and Georgia have hit a new low after the detention of five officers, prompting Moscow to recall its ambassador, evacuate its diplomats and complain to the United Nations. Georgia charged four of the officers Friday. The fifth officer was released.
Diplomats said an indignant Ivanov strongly expressed Russia's concerns at his meeting with NATO ministers. He declined during his news conference, however, to link the arrest of the soldiers with NATO's decision last week to offer Georgia an intensified cooperation program, which is considered a step toward possible membership of the alliance.
"Georgia becoming a member or not a member of NATO is nothing to do with all this," Ivanov said. "Georgia has chosen a military way of solving the problem in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, that is where all the problems stem from."
Before their regular fall meeting with Ivanov, the NATO ministers opened talks on modernizing their armed military — seeking to improve coordination of special forces and boost their capacity to airlift troops over long distances.
Bulgarian