Russia agreed on Monday to completely withdraw its troops from Georgia's heartland within a month, but there was no commitment to scale back its military presence in two Georgian separatist regions. Georgia welcomed the deal as a "step forward," brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy on behalf of the European Union during four hours of talks with Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev.
Last month's Russian invasion, that sent forces deep into Georgia in response to an attempt by Tbilisi to retake the breakaway region of South Ossetia, drew condemnation from the West and raised fears for the security of energy supplies. Sarkozy and Medvedev, meeting at the neo-Gothic Meiendorf Castle outside Moscow, announced an agreement to pull back hundreds of Russian troops still stationed in buffer zones inside undisputed Georgian territory. The French leader, accompanied by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, took the deal to Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who offered cautious approval. In contrast to Russia's conciliatory tone with the EU over Georgia, tensions with the United States flared on Monday when Russia said it was sending warships for exercises in the Caribbean Sea, its biggest deployment there since the Cold War.
The United States said it was rescinding a U.S.-Russian civilian nuclear pact, saying the time was not right for the agreement "given the current environment." Medvedev, after his talks with Sarkozy, made clear that he would not reverse his decision to recognize Georgia's breakaway South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states, a move condemned by the West. Russia's Foreign Ministry said it would formally establish diplomatic relations with the regions on Tuesday. It still depended on the deployment of an international force to monitor the Russian troops, a contingent which would include a 200-strong EU force, according to a text of the agreement released by the Kremlin. Georgia is home to pipelines carrying oil and gas from the Caspian Sea to world markets which are favored by the West because they bypass Russia. But the conflict has cast doubt on Georgia's viability as a safe energy route. Russia said it was morally obliged to send in its military last month to prevent what it called a genocide in the separatist regions by an aggressive Georgian government egged on by its ally, the United States.
The agreement signed by Medvedev and Sarkozy did not contain any stipulation that Russia withdraw to pre-conflict positions, a demand previously mentioned by Western states. That leaves Russia scope to leave troops and weapons inside South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Russia's Foreign Ministry said it was sending its nuclear-powered cruiser Peter the Great, as well as other warships and an anti-submarine aircraft, for joint exercises in November with U.S. foe Venezuela in the Caribbean Sea. A ministry spokesman said the exercises had nothing to do with tensions over Georgia, but they follow Russian complaints about U.S. warships deployed in the Black Sea, an area where Moscow has been the dominant naval power. [End of report]
If anyone thinks that Russia is not committed in achieving a peace process with Georgia, then I think this move will help to prove them wrong. It is good to see that the Russians are working very hard to find a solution to the current problem when every other country in the world are condemning Russia and are having a one-sided view and by refusing to listen to Russia reasons for attacking Georgia. For some of them, they only think that Russia is the bad guy in the entire conflict and thus should be punished. The fact is, Russia went into Georgia because of Georgia's initial actions. Russia was forced to do what it did, but instead of blaming Georgia, they are pointing their fingers to Russia instead. If you remember a ceasefire earlier, Russia had promised to withdraw its troop by a period of time, but of course that didnt happen not because Russia had any other intentions such as taking over Georgia again, but because the conditions and situation in the country didn't allow them to do so. Russia once again receieved a lot of criticism from EU and America, but again they failed to understand Russian position on things.
Russia's move to recognize Georgia's breakaway South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states didnt help to improve the situation and reduce the tension especially between both Russia and America but I thought it was a right move by the Russians. The West then threaten Russia with harsher actions such as sanctions, though it didnt materialised. America, who is a strong supporter of Georgia meanwhile has announced that it has froze a much vaunted US-Russian civilian nuclear pact in protest at Moscow's military moves in Georgia. The EU meanwhile knows that any form of action that goes against the wish of Russia is not good for them either. The EU is so dependent on energy from Russia. It buys 30 percent of its imported oil and 40 percent of its imported natural gas from Russia. In my opinion, it seems to me that the EU needs Russia more than it needed the EU. I think that is probably why they are so desperate to achieve some form of progress with the Russian, but at the same time, they need to be careful on what they do. I think its also good to hear about the deployment of an international force to monitor the Russian troops. I believe everyone would be very happy with the agreement but whether it will really work, we will have to wait and see.
I know that the Russian will play their part in ensuring peace in the region, so the EU or anyone else won't have anything to worry about that. At the same time, the deployment will probably help to prove that the reports about Russian aggression in Georgia wrong. I just hope that Georgia would not create any kind of problem anymore because it wouldnt be good for them. They should just go with the flow and accept whatever terms that have been agreed upon and it will only be then that both countries are able to prevent a similar incident from happening again.
*The report was taken from Reuters.
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