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OSLO, Norway – Norway’s Defense Ministry says Russia has informed it that it plans to cut all military ties with NATO.
Ministry spokeswoman Heidi Langvik-Hansen says the country’s embassy received a telephone call from Russia’s Defense Ministry, saying Moscow plans “to freeze all military cooperation with NATO and allied countries.”
Norway was told in the telephone call a written note about this would be sent out shortly.
Russian officials were not immediately available to confirm the information and officials at NATO headquarters said they have not been informed of any such moves.
NATO foreign ministers suspended formal contacts with Russia as punishment for sending troops into Georgia.
Russia will draw its own conclusions over NATO’s stance on the conflict in South Ossetia. That’s the message from Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, after the alliance’s meeting in Brussels.
NATO accused Moscow of disproportionate use of force, but Lavrov hit back by criticising the alliance for failing to look into the root of the conflict.
Speaking at an emergency meeting of the NATO foreign ministers, Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer was very specific in his evaluation of the South Ossetian conflict.
“Russian forces are basically occupying a large part of Georgia,” De Hoop Scheffer repeated several times.
However, when asked about Georgia’s actions, De Hoop Scheffer refused to comment.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said:
“We are puzzled by how NATO assesses the way the peace agreement is being implemented. They blame us only. As if these principles don’t require Georgian leaders to immediately withdraw all their troops to their original positions.”
NATO’s position was clear: it supports Georgia and is uncertain about future relations with Russia.
- Abkhazia parliament approves call to Russia for recognition
SUKHUMI, August 20 (RIA Novosti) – Abkhazia’s parliament has approved an appeal by the president of the separatist republic for Russia to recognize its independence from Georgia.
The proclamation was backed by all 26 MPs attending the extraordinary session. The MPs also adopted an appeal to the parliaments and governments of other countries.
The recognition request was prepared shortly after Georgia launched an offensive on South Ossetia, another secessionist republic in Georgia, on August 8.
Russia to Back Independence for Abkhazia
(Deutsche Welle) – The speaker of Russia’s upper house of parliament, Sergei Mironov, said that Russian lawmakers were “ready” to recognize the regions independence from Georgia. An emergency session would be held to discuss the request, he added.
“The Council of Federation is ready to recognize an independent status of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, if the peoples of the two republics want it and if there is a supporting decision of the President of Russia,” Mironov was quoted as saying in the southern Russia city of Vladikavkaz, where he visited refugees from the conflict in Georgia’s other breakaway region of South Ossetia.
De facto independence
Both Abkhazia and South Ossetia have enjoyed de facto independence since winning a war of succession from Georgia in the early 1990s. They have since strengthened their ties with Russia, though Russia has not yet formally recognized their independence.
Most residents in the two separatist provinces have been issued Russian passports in recent years, but while South Ossetians would like to unite with the ethnically-linked Russian region of North Ossetia, Abkhazia is lobbying to be recognized as an independent country.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
