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“WE CALL FOR A DIALOGUE BETWEEN THE SIDES”

Politics


Georgia has largely implemented PACE Resolution 1633 while Russia has not. In particular, Russian hasn’t withdrawn its troops from the zone of conflict, Co-rapporteur of the Committee on the consequences of the war between Russia and Georgia, Luc Van den Brande (Belgium, EPP/CD) announced today.


“The Assembly wants to foster a dialogue between the conflicting sides. It doesn’t want its member states to wage a war,” said the Co-rapporteur. He suggests setting up a special committee to inquire into the consequences of the war. The committee should involve equal representatives from Russia and Georgia, as well as from South Ossetia and Abkhazia.


Co-rapporteur Mátyás Eörsi (Hungary, ALDE), noted that Russians should understand the theses proposed by them as they stem from European principles.


When presenting the viewpoint of the PACE Political Committee, Mátyás Eörsi noted that they want “to open a window to understand the reasons for the August 2008 Russian-Georgian war.” This will enable the Committee to avert wars in other zones of conflict, including Nagorno Karabakh.


PACE delegates fully realise that they cannot force Russia to meet the requirements of Resolution 1633, in part to denounce the recognition of the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. “But does it suggest that we should mitigate the requirements? Surely, not. We should work out new methods. This is a serious concern for the Council of Europe,” said Lithuanian parliamentarian Egidijus Vareikis.


Today the rapporteurs mostly criticised Russia saying the latter is against Georgia’s integration into NATO.


Polish parliamentarian Bender thinks Russia is eager to regain its reputation of a superpower. He is anxious that Russia may attack Poland some day.


The Head of the Russian delegation to the PACE, Konstantin Kosachev, detailed why Russia cannot meet the PACE requirements. He says in October 2008 PACE “made a wrong diagnosis qualifying the misunderstanding between the countries as a Russian-Georgian conflict, hence the structure prescribed wrong medicine.” In reality the conflict had emerged between Georgia and Osseitia and Russia had intervened to prevent annihilation of Ossetian people. Kosachev says Russian troops cannot be withdrawn from the territory for fear that Georgia may resume military activities.


Karine Asatryan


Strasbourg