For educational purposes:
"MOSCOW, April 28 (RIA Novosti) - The Georgian breakaway republic of
Abkhazia is prepared to sign a military agreement with Russia, the
Abkhaz foreign minister said Monday.
"We are ready to sign a military agreement with Russia. We are ready
to observe all Russian interests in the region in exchange for
military protection by Russia and open economic cooperation," Sergei
Shamba said, speaking on the phone to a RIA Novosti correspondent.
Shamba also said if Russia had an interest in a military presence in
Abkhazia, then the republic was ready to oblige. "We realize that
Russia has military interests in Abkhazia, because it's a
strategically important region," he said.
The head of the Russian lower house's committee on CIS affairs, Alexei
Ostrovsky, suggested on Monday waiting until Abkhazia's status has
been better defined before talking about a possible Russian military
presence in the republic.
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.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called earlier this month for closer
ties with the breakaway republics. Putin's statement provoked an angry
response from Tbilisi, with Georgia's foreign minister accusing Russia
of attempting "to annex" the two republics.
Georgia also 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, a claim Russia has denied.
The incidents have seen relations between Moscow and Tbilisi plunge to
a new low.
Ex-Soviet breakaway regions have stepped up their drive for self-rule
since Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia on
February 17. Abkhazia and South Ossetia, along with Moldova's
Transdnestr, have all asked Russia's parliament, the UN, and other
organizations to recognize their independence.
The State Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament, proposed in March
that the president and the government consider the issue of whether to
recognize the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
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.
Sergei Mironov, speaker of the Federation Council, Russia's upper
house of parliament, said on Monday, commenting on Kenyaikin's
statement that: "Russia proceeds from the fact that a great number of
Russians live in Abkhazia. It is evident that if there is a threat to
the lives of Russian nationals - or any other threat - Russia will not
remain on the sidelines."
Also on Monday, acting Georgian Foreign Minister David Bakradze called
Mironov's statement an attempt by Moscow to switch to "a policy of
military aggression."
"This threatens switching from a policy of annexing our territories to
a policy of direct military aggression," he told journalists in
Brussels.
Georgia's Rustavi-2 TV station also quoted Bakradze as saying that
Georgia would attempt to get Russian peacekeeping forces stationed in
Abkhazia replaced with NATO peacekeepers.
NATO spokesman James Appathurai told Georgian TV reporters in Brussels
that all NATO members believe that the Russian peacekeeping contingent
should leave the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict zone.
Vakhtang Lezhava, a deputy Georgian economic development minister,
told journalists on Monday that Georgia would link its consent to
Russia's admission to the World Trade Organization to the Abkhazia and
South Ossetia issue. He said in particular that Tbilisi was seeking a
retraction of President Putin's statement on the strengthening of ties
with the breakaway republics. "
http://en.rian.ru/world/20080428/106117205.html
Sounds just like Stalin's pioneer soviet puppets in all of the wwII
russian occupied countries.
The russkie foreign staff is very unoriginal.. probably because they
are the same originals.
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