London, Sept. 13: Russia has described Georgia’s attack on South Ossetia and Abkhazia in August as its 9/11, and claimed that Russia would have attacked Georgia even if it was a member of the NATO.
In a strikingly self-possessed three-hour meeting in Moscow, President Dmitry Medvedev made clear he would be prepared to defend Russians militarily wherever they were in the world.
Medvedev said he never imagined he would be confronted with such a foreign policy crisis so early in his tenure, but said it had irrevocably changed him and his country.
Moscow - Russia has withdrawn its last troops from the Georgian port of Poti, reports said Saturday.
Russian television showed the troops dismantling checkpoints at the Black Sea port before leaving in trucks. Around 150 Russian soldiers and ten tanks had been stationed in Poti, locals said.
On Monday French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the current holder of the EU's rotating presidency, brokered in Moscow a deal to end Russia's current military occupation of Georgia.
London, Sept. 13: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov subjected his British counterpart David Miliband to a four-letter abuse tirade when the latter lectured the former about Moscow’s decision to invade Georgia.
Lavrov reportedly reacted with fury and repeatedly used the "F-word" when Miliband criticized him about last month’s aggression in South and North Ossetia and Abkhazia.
The Telegraph quoted an insider as saying that it was difficult to draft a readable note of the conversation.
Brussels - If European Union foreign ministers approve a ceasefire observation mission to Georgia as expected on Monday, they will be stepping into a diplomatic minefield.
Officials in Brussels say that if the bloc does not mandate its observers to cover the whole territory of Georgia, including, crucially, the rebel territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, it will appear to be accepting their independence before international peace talks have even begun.
But if the mandate does cover the breakaway regions, the EU will risk an outright rejection of its peace initiative from Russia - something which would cause it a massive loss of face.
Moscow - The ceasefire between Russia and Georgia has not calmed down the Caucasus. While inhabitants of Georgia's separatist enclaves Abkhazia and South Ossetia celebrate formal recognition by Russia as independent nations, hardly a day goes by without bloodshed in Russia's North Caucasus regions Ingushetia and Dagestan.
Moscow - An arms embargo against Georgia would top the Russian agenda at international peace talks in Geneva on October 15, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday.
"When deliberating there on how to prevent another aggression, the task of preventing Georgia's re-militarization will be paramount," Lavrov told a discussion group of Russian foreign policy experts, news agency Ria-Novosti reported.
He said the embargo should stand, "at least as long as (Georgian President) Saakashvili remains in power."
London, Sept. 13: Russia has described Georgia’s attack on South Ossetia and Abkhazia in August as its 9/11, and claimed that Russia would have attacked Georgia even if it was a member of the NATO.
Moscow - Russia has withdrawn its last troops from the Georgian port of Poti, reports said Saturday.
London, Sept. 13: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov subjected his British counterpart David Miliband to a four-letter abuse tirade when the latter lectured the former about Moscow’s decision to invade Georgia. 
Moscow - The ceasefire between Russia and Georgia has not calmed down the Caucasus. While inhabitants of Georgia's separatist enclaves Abkhazia and South Ossetia celebrate formal recognition by Russia as independent nations, hardly a day goes by without bloodshed in Russia's North Caucasus regions Ingushetia and Dagestan.
Moscow - An arms embargo against Georgia would top the Russian agenda at international peace talks in Geneva on October 15, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday.
