Medvedev Rules Out Reversing Abkhazia, S.Ossetia Recognition

Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, said Moscow would not reverse its decision on recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and added that bilateral cooperation agreements with these “new states” were being prepared.

“New states have already emerged,” he said in an interview with three Russian TV networks – First Channel, Rossiya and NTV – on August 31. “The process of their recognition [by other states] may take a long period. But our position will not change depending on this [process]. We have already made our decision and we have taken this decision irreversibly. Our duty is to provide peace and calmness in the region. Our policy will be based on that.”

He also said that Russia would provide comprehensive assistance to Abkhazia and South Ossetia and Moscow would undertake its responsibilities towards these two regions through bilateral agreements with them.

“Agreement, international agreements are now being prepared; agreements between the two states – the Russian Federation and Abkhazia and the Russian Federation and South Ossetia,” he said.

These agreements, he said, would involve economic, humanitarian and military cooperation issues. “These will be full-pledged international relations between the allied states,” Medvedev said.

"It's All Over With the Unknown Soldier"

Twenty six unknown Georgian soldiers killed in clashes with Russian troops and South Ossetian militiamen were buried in Tbilisi on August 28. The official death toll among soldiers now stands at 183 – four of whom were reservists. According to official information, 13 Interior Ministry personnel were also killed in the conflict.

Georgian Leadership’s Expectations from EU Summit

President Saakashvili said late on August 31 he did not know what the outcome of the EU leaders’ summit would be, but he expected the European Union to say that it would never recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

“I expect the European Union not to step back in the face of this dirty and outrageous attempt to legalize this illegality,” he said in a televised address to the nation. “I expect the European Union to support our country’s territorial integrity and to state that will never recognize results of this illegality. This is very important for us, because we will never tolerate it.”

He also said that he expected launch of “a big process.” “This is a process of Georgia’s final liberation; the process of Georgia’s real European integration; the process of final neutralization of aggressive forces in the region,” Saakashvili said.

He also said that this “will not be an easy process.”

Temur Iakobashvili, the Georgia’s state minister for reintegration, who is currently visiting Brussels together with PM Lado Gurgenidze and Foreign Minister Eka Tkeshelashvili, elaborated Georgia’s expectation in respect of the EU summit in more details.

He said in an interview with the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) on August 31 that the Georgian side expected the summit to discuss EU-Georgia relations in various aspects.

“First of all this is humanitarian aid for the displaced persons,” he said. “Secondly, this is aid to help stabilize Georgia’s economy and to maintain foreign investors confidence towards Georgia – Americans are pledging USD 1 billion and it will be good if the Europeans allocate EUR 1 billion.”

“From the political point of view we expect launch of the process of integration, involving free trade regime, simplified visa rules, as well as institutional integration with the EU – of course it is early to speak about membership, but steps in this direction should be accelerate,” Iakobashvili said.

He also said that EU monitors on the ground should play an important role in “the process of de-occupation of Georgia.”

As far as EU-Russia relations are concerned, Iakobashvili said he did not expect the European Union to undertake “kind of traumatic steps against Russia at this stage.”

“However, we will most likely see EU’s strong language towards Russia and I think EU will choose the way of step-by-step isolation of Russia,” Iakobashvili said and added that EU would most likely warn Russia and start resorting to various sanction only after Russia still defied those warnings.