Germany sees “no indication” of Russia’s Georgia withdrawal
Washington, 20 August (IranVNC)—Germany sees no evidence that Russia is pulling out of Georgia despite vows from Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev, a German government spokesperson said today.
By: IranVNC
Published: Wednesday, August 20, 2008
14:30GMT—10:30AM/EST
GERMANY – RUSSIA – GEORGIA – UN
Washington, 20 August (IranVNC)—Germany sees no evidence that Russia is pulling out of Georgia despite vows from Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev, a German government spokesperson said today.
“At the moment we have no tangible indication that the Russian troop withdrawal has really started. That is a very unsatisfactory situation,” Reuters quoted German government spokesperson, Thomas Steg, as saying at a news conference.
He added: “The Russian side has to follow up what it has promised with concrete actions.”
Steg’s remarks are the latest in a series of demands from Western powers through the United Nations and NATO, pressing Moscow to abide by a plan to withdraw its forces from neighboring Georgia.
Medvedev yesterday told his French counterpart, Nicolas Sarkozy, in a phone conversation, that all but 500 Russian troops would be withdrawn from Georgia on Thursday and Friday, AFP reports.
But Moscow yesterday rejected a United Nations Security Council draft resolution demanding that it pull its forces back to pre-crisis lines.
“The Russian Federation will not be able to support the draft resolution submitted by France today,” AFP quoted Russia’s Ambassador Vitaly Churkin as telling the council.
Veto-wielding Russia said that the draft, which calls for the immediate compliance with the ceasefire agreed to by both Georgia and Russia, contradicted the terms of last week’s ceasefire deal.
Also yesterday, the 26-country military alliance, NATO, issued a statement saying that it “cannot continue with business as usual” with Moscow until it fully withdraws its troops from Georgia.
For her part, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday denounced Russia’s actions, saying: “Russia is very clearly isolating itself. It’s becoming more and more the outlaw in this conflict.”
“It is clearly in violation of a ceasefire agreement that it signed,” Rice added in an interview with the American news network, CBS, emphasizing that the agreement was “signed willingly” by Russia.
Reuters reports that Russian military trucks have left Georgia, but the move has fallen short of the large-scale, rapid pull-out that Western countries have demanded.
Tensions between Russia and Georgia erupted on 7 August when Georgian troops launched an attack on the Russian-backed breakaway region of South Ossetia. Russia responded with a military offensive that has expanded into other parts of Georgia.
Sources: Reuters, Agence France-Presse, State Department website
© IranVNC 2008. All rights reserved.