LetsTalk

Nato's secretary general has demanded that Russia withdraw troops it sent to the disputed breakaway Georgian province of Abkhazia last week.

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer accused Russia of breaching Georgia's sovereignty by sending in military railway personnel.

Mr de Hoop Scheffer said the Russian move was "contributing to instability in what is already a volatile area".

Abkhazia broke away from Georgia in a war in the early 1990s after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

Russia announced on Saturday that it was sending 300 members of an unarmed unit from the army's railway force to the province to help carry out repairs on the network, labelling the move a humanitarian effort.

Georgia responded that Russia is planning a military intervention in the province.

Nato aspirations

"These forces should be withdrawn, and both Russia and Georgia should engage quickly in a high-level and open dialogue to de-escalate tensions," Mr de Hoop Scheffer said.


ABKHAZIA'S BITTER WAR
The Abkhaz minority demanded independence from Georgia after the collapse of the USSR in 1991
Several thousand people were killed before Georgian forces were driven out in 1993
About 250,000 Georgians were displaced by the fighting

Georgia, which hopes to join Nato, has accused Russia of propping up separatists in the region with a peacekeeping force.

Tensions have been high since Moscow announced in April that it was establishing formal ties with the separatists.

Adding to those tensions is the release of a UN report that said Russia shot down a Georgian drone.

Russian authorities insisted the plane was shot down over Abkhazia by Abkhaz rebels.

Russia has kept a peacekeeping force in the province and South Ossetia under an agreement made following wars in the 1990s, when the regions broke away from Georgia and formed links with Moscow.

There are around 2,000 Russians posted in Abkhazia, and about 1,000 in South Ossetia.

Many in Abkhazia believe that Kosovo's announcement of independence from Serbia in February provides a precedent for it to be recognised as an individual state.

Although the province has its own flag and postage stamps, it is not internationally recognised.

Story from BBC NEWS:
BBC NEWS | Europe | Nato warns Russia over Abkhazia

Published: 2008/06/03 19:11:59 GMT

Ray

I am afraid that the NATO Secretary can whistle for the favourable wind to blow.

There is no hope in hell that Russia is going to pack up and scamper off into the blues.

Pious platitudes shall not cut ice and military intervention is zero.

Therefore, the bottomline is that all this is Hot air, but excellent to keep the moral pressures up.

Unfortunately, the bigger and more powerful nations brush off such rhetoric as one would brush off an annoying snowflake off the overcoat, no matter how dainty and beautiful it might be!

__________________


"Some have learnt many Tricks of sly Evasion, Instead of Truth they use Equivocation, And eke it out with mental Reservation, Which is to good Men an Abomination."

I don't have to attend every argument I'm invited to.

HAKUNA MATATA

s_qwert63

Georgia will never go to war against Russia.
Whatever people might think, the Georgians are still more friendly towards Russians than they are towards Americans.
Just because the US tried and installed their puppet president in Georgia doesn't mean the situation in the country is going to change. Russia will always put pressure on Georgia through South-Ossetia and Adzharia which are both very friendly towards Russia.
As soon as whats his face, puppet president of Georgia (who turned out to be more authoritorian than Shevarnadze) is taken out, this whole situation will deflate itself.

s_qwert63

Unlikely this isn't Chechnya, Russia will just bomb Georgia into oblivion (leaving Gori out), but it will not out of pity for the civilians, their government will be taken out probably. The fact that Georgians have been training with US troops is irrelevant. Russia has a lot more knowledge of warfare in the Caucasus region (2 centuries) and mountainous terrain than US can ever gather up.