December
04-28-2008, 08:30 PM
Video - http://russiatoday.ru/news/news/24047/video
The special envoy of Georgia's President David Bakradze has attended a special session of the NATO in Brussels to discuss what Tbilisi calls ‘Russia's destructive steps in conflict zones’. The meeting of 26 member-states was convened at Georgia's request.
A new wave of tensions between Russia and Georgia developed following Russia's decision to strengthen ties with the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
This was further complicated last weekend when an unmanned Georgian spy plane flying over the Abkhazian territory was shot down on April 20. Tbilisi claimed the drone was downed by Russia - which Moscow denies saying Georgian aircraft were violating international treaties. For its part, Abkhazia admitted the plane was shot down by its air defence forces.
Bakradze offered to send experts to verify the on ground radar information regarding the incident.
“We are ready to provide radar inspection possibility, radar data, video footage for expertise. We have 100% evidences and we welcome international involvement in this issue,” Bakradze said.
“Apart from the North Atlantic Alliance we are also taking the issue to the European Union,” he added.
http://russiatoday.ru/news/news/24047
Georgian policy toward Russia provocative - Russian envoy to NATO
28/ 04/ 2008
BRUSSELS, April 28 (RIA Novosti) - Tbilisi is behaving in a provocative manner toward Russia over the issue of Georgia's breakaway republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Russia's envoy to NATO said Monday.
"Georgia is behaving in a provocative way. One gets the impression that someone irresponsible is seeking a pretext for a war," Dmitry Rogozin said.
Georgia claims that on April 20 a Russian MiG-29 Fulcrum fighter from the Gudauta military base in Abkhazia, where Russian peacekeepers have been stationed since the end of a bloody conflict in the early 1990s, shot down a Georgian drone.
The incident came after Russian President Vladimir Putin's calls earlier this month for closer ties with Georgia's two breakaway provinces, and has plunged relations between Moscow and Tbilisi to a new low. Putin's statement provoked an angry response from Tbilisi, with Georgia's foreign minister accusing Russia of attempting "to annex" the two republics.
Abkhazia and South Ossetia broke away from Georgia in 1991 following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Georgia is looking to regain control over the two republics.
Ex-Soviet breakaway regions have stepped up their drive for self-rule since Kosovo's declaration of independence on February 17. Georgia's Abkhazia and South Ossetia, along with Moldova's Transdnestr, have since asked Russia's parliament, the UN and other organizations to recognize their independence.
Valery Kenyaikin, the Russian Foreign Ministry's ambassador at large, said on April 25 that Russia would do everything possible to protect the interests of Russian citizens living in Georgia's breakaway republics.
"We will not leave our citizens in Abkhazia and South Ossetia in difficulty and this should be clearly understood... We will do everything possible to avert a military conflict." He also added however that Russia would "have to use military force," if the need arose.
Alexander Torshin, a deputy speaker at the Federation Council, Russia's upper house of parliament, said on Monday that this statement "should be interpreted as a warning against adventurism."
http://en.rian.ru/world/20080428/106101903.html
Former New York lawyer and president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/Saakashvili_n_bush.jpg
http://www.nancarrow-webdesk.com/warehouse/storage2/2008-w13/img.176596_t.jpg
Mikheil Saakashvili (Georgian: მიხეილ სააკაშვილი) (born December 21, 1967) is a Georgian politician, the President of Georgia.
He received an LLM from Columbia Law School in 1994 and Doctor of Laws degree from The George Washington University Law School the following year. In 1995, he also received a diploma from the International Institute of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France.
After graduation, while working in the New York law firm of Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler in early 1995.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Saakashvili
The special envoy of Georgia's President David Bakradze has attended a special session of the NATO in Brussels to discuss what Tbilisi calls ‘Russia's destructive steps in conflict zones’. The meeting of 26 member-states was convened at Georgia's request.
A new wave of tensions between Russia and Georgia developed following Russia's decision to strengthen ties with the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
This was further complicated last weekend when an unmanned Georgian spy plane flying over the Abkhazian territory was shot down on April 20. Tbilisi claimed the drone was downed by Russia - which Moscow denies saying Georgian aircraft were violating international treaties. For its part, Abkhazia admitted the plane was shot down by its air defence forces.
Bakradze offered to send experts to verify the on ground radar information regarding the incident.
“We are ready to provide radar inspection possibility, radar data, video footage for expertise. We have 100% evidences and we welcome international involvement in this issue,” Bakradze said.
“Apart from the North Atlantic Alliance we are also taking the issue to the European Union,” he added.
http://russiatoday.ru/news/news/24047
Georgian policy toward Russia provocative - Russian envoy to NATO
28/ 04/ 2008
BRUSSELS, April 28 (RIA Novosti) - Tbilisi is behaving in a provocative manner toward Russia over the issue of Georgia's breakaway republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Russia's envoy to NATO said Monday.
"Georgia is behaving in a provocative way. One gets the impression that someone irresponsible is seeking a pretext for a war," Dmitry Rogozin said.
Georgia claims that on April 20 a Russian MiG-29 Fulcrum fighter from the Gudauta military base in Abkhazia, where Russian peacekeepers have been stationed since the end of a bloody conflict in the early 1990s, shot down a Georgian drone.
The incident came after Russian President Vladimir Putin's calls earlier this month for closer ties with Georgia's two breakaway provinces, and has plunged relations between Moscow and Tbilisi to a new low. Putin's statement provoked an angry response from Tbilisi, with Georgia's foreign minister accusing Russia of attempting "to annex" the two republics.
Abkhazia and South Ossetia broke away from Georgia in 1991 following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Georgia is looking to regain control over the two republics.
Ex-Soviet breakaway regions have stepped up their drive for self-rule since Kosovo's declaration of independence on February 17. Georgia's Abkhazia and South Ossetia, along with Moldova's Transdnestr, have since asked Russia's parliament, the UN and other organizations to recognize their independence.
Valery Kenyaikin, the Russian Foreign Ministry's ambassador at large, said on April 25 that Russia would do everything possible to protect the interests of Russian citizens living in Georgia's breakaway republics.
"We will not leave our citizens in Abkhazia and South Ossetia in difficulty and this should be clearly understood... We will do everything possible to avert a military conflict." He also added however that Russia would "have to use military force," if the need arose.
Alexander Torshin, a deputy speaker at the Federation Council, Russia's upper house of parliament, said on Monday that this statement "should be interpreted as a warning against adventurism."
http://en.rian.ru/world/20080428/106101903.html
Former New York lawyer and president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/Saakashvili_n_bush.jpg
http://www.nancarrow-webdesk.com/warehouse/storage2/2008-w13/img.176596_t.jpg
Mikheil Saakashvili (Georgian: მიხეილ სააკაშვილი) (born December 21, 1967) is a Georgian politician, the President of Georgia.
He received an LLM from Columbia Law School in 1994 and Doctor of Laws degree from The George Washington University Law School the following year. In 1995, he also received a diploma from the International Institute of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France.
After graduation, while working in the New York law firm of Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler in early 1995.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Saakashvili