Russia, US ramp up war of words ahead of NATO talks

Videos
Photos

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-08-19 07:50

Brussels - Russian and US officials ramped up the diplomatic war of words on Monday on the eve of an extraordinary meeting of EU foreign ministers to discuss the crisis in Georgia.

Russian troops ride atop armored vehicles near the village of Khurcha heading towards the border of Georgia in breakaway region of Abkhazia August 10, 2008. [Xinhua]

The 26 NATO foreign ministers will hold their emergency meeting at the Alliance headquarters in the Belgian capital on Tuesday where they are set to offer help and support to Tbilisi while sending a strong message to Moscow over its military intervention.

The extraordinary meeting was called by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who is seeking a comprehensive review of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's relations with Moscow.

"Our long-term goal is not to have an adversarial relationship with Russia but it cannot be business as usual," a senior US official in Brussels said.

"We have to take a look at all the elements of the relationship and this of course would include high-level meetings."

"Of course, there have to be some consequences" for what all NATO members are agreed was the "disproportionate use of force," he added.

Among those ties under scrutiny are dialogue on counter-terrorism and missile defence.

Russia's envoy to NATO warned that "the quality of cooperation" between Moscow and the Alliance would suffer if NATO foreign ministers fail to reach a "responsible decision," when they meet Tuesday.

Envoy Dmitry Rogozin said Moscow had already withdrawn a request for a meeting of the NATO-Russia council, the formal forum for talks.

"We don't want to hear that (Mikheil) Saakashvili is a saint," he added, comparing the Georgian president's actions in South Ossetia to the worst excesses of Hitler.

Rogozin, who blamed Washington for the failure to hold a Russia-NATO council meeting last week, added: "We hope it will be a balanced and responsible decision and that the US will not break all the glassware in our house."

Despite the US official's assurance that "I think you'll see a NATO more united than you might expect," other diplomatic sources said the subject of Russia's role in Georgia had split NATO members.

Britain, Canada, the United States and most eastern European member states are in one camp seeking a tough stance on Russia's actions, the sources said.

Meanwhile most of western Europe, led by France and Germany and backed by Hungary, Slovenia and others, were more cautious of further hurting ties with Moscow.

NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer spoke with several Alliance foreign ministers Monday, seeking to forge consensus on the Georgia-Russia conflict ahead of a meeting in Brussels, a spokeswoman said.

The NATO spokeswoman said "I think you can expect a strong message to Russia," though the details remain to be agreed.

"The foreign ministers will also probably send a message of solidarity and will agree on a package of measures," the spokeswoman said.

These would likely include agreement to send a team of civil emergency planning experts on to help Georgia to assess the damage done to its infrastructure during the Russian military action which began over a week ago, including energy supplies and the public health system.

The ministers could also agree to help assess the damage to Georgia's military facilities, in particular reports that its radar system was badly damaged.

The NATO foreign ministers will back the truce between Georgia and Russia and may stress the need to fully implement the agreement "including the international mechanism to monitor respect of the engagements taken by both sides," Romero said.

The NATO foreign ministers are also set to stress their backing for the agreement reached by Alliance leaders in Bucharest in April that Georgia will one day be offered membership, without setting any dates.