Russia dismisses Nato's 'empty words' as it stands firm in Georgia

Nato united in the face of Russia’s failure to withdraw from Georgia yesterday, freezing regular contacts with Moscow and declaring that there could be “no business as usual under present circumstances”.

However, there will be no Nato troops rushing to Tbilisi to put military muscle behind the tough statement, which was issued at an emergency meeting of the 26 foreign ministers of the alliance in Brussels. Military assistance will be restricted to training exercises and talks about prospective membership of the alliance.

When David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, met President Saakashvili of Georgia in Tbilisi, he emphasised that he was talking politically when he said that “Nato will defend the territorial integrity of Georgia”. He said that he was referring to the defence of international law.
The Nato statement triggered a furious response from Moscow, leaving relations between Russia and the West at their lowest point in years.

Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, accused Nato of trying to save “a criminal regime in Tbilisi” and “taking a path to the rearmament of the current leaders in Georgia”. He claimed that Russian troops could be withdrawn within three or four days. However, President Medvedev of Russia said later that 500 troops would be left behind to “implement additional security measures”.

Dimitri Rogozin, the Russian Ambassador to Nato, also dismissed the statement of the alliance. “On the whole, all of these threats that have been raining down on Russia turned out to be empty words,” he said.

Nato’s political support for Georgia did not go down well with Georgians either. When Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, the Secretary-General of Nato, announced at the end of the meeting that the alliance was to set up a Nato/Georgia Commission to arrange discussions with Tbilisi, a Georgian journalist asked: “With Russian troops deep inside Georgia, murdering and raping its people, what does this new Nato/Georgia Commission do for us?”

Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, said that Nato had an open-door policy for membership and declared that Russia had no right to try to draw a new line in Europe, preventing certain countries from opting for a transatlantic future.

Under Article 5 of the Nato charter alliance troops are obliged to go to the defence of another country under attack only if it is a full member.

The continuing presence of thousands of Russian troops, some only 30km (19 miles) from Tbilisi, convinced even the more cautious allies such as France and Germany to demand a full Russian withdrawal.

Although the foreign ministers decided against scrapping the six-year-old Nato-Russia Council, which has generated closer political and security ties with Moscow, Mr Miliband said that there was no question of relations with the Russians carrying on as normal. “I think we should still engage with the Russians but in a hard-headed way, and we mustn’t allow the Russians to feel they are the victims of this affair when they are the transgressors,” he said.

British diplomatic sources said that Mr Miliband planned to use his 24-hour visit to Georgia to see what the Russians had been doing since crossing into the country after the ill-fated attempt by Mr Saakashvili to regain control of South Ossetia, the pro-Russian breakaway region.

Dr Rice underlined the desire by Washington “not to isolate Russia”, but said that the Russians had isolated themselves “when they invaded a small neighbouring country” and started bombing, “wreaking havoc and causing wanton destruction”.

The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe sent the first of about 100 ceasefire inspectors to the country yesterday after an appeal by the Georgian leader for international monitors.

At the United Nations, Britain said last night that a British diplomat had been stopped at a Russian checkpoint in Georgia and was told that he could not proceed without a Russian visa. Officials said that the defence attaché was stopped at the checkpoint in Natsreti on Monday.

Sir John Sawers, Britain’s UN envoy, asked his Russian counterpart across the Security Council table: “Do foreigners now need Russian visas to travel within Georgia?”

France circulated a new version of a proposed Security Council resolution that would reaffirm Georgia’s “territorial integrity”. Russia said that it would not support the draft.