NATO Envoys, In Georgia, Demand Russia Withdraw

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
Philadelphia Inquirer
September 16, 2008
By Steve Gutterman, Associated Press
TBILISI, Georgia -- Diplomats from every NATO nation demanded immediate Russian withdrawal from Georgia in a show of support from the U.S. ally's capital yesterday that made no promise of faster membership in the alliance.
NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer led 26 envoys in calling on Moscow to comply with a cease-fire deal and withdraw to positions its forces held before fighting with Georgia erupted Aug. 7.
But the diplomats offered no positive response to Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, who said that Russia's invasion should not keep his country out of its "proper and rightful home" in NATO.
The alliance decided in April not to offer Georgia the first step toward membership, while assuring the country that it would eventually join. De Hoop Scheffer said those decisions still stood.
He offered no timetable, saying yesterday's visit would help "assess how to further enhance the NATO-Georgia partnership." Georgia, where thousands of Russian troops are deployed, must move forward with democratic reforms despite the difficulties caused by the war, he stressed.
The NATO ambassadors' trip to Georgia was scheduled long ago.
But by sending troops deep into Georgia and recognizing the separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent nations, the Kremlin raised the stakes in the struggle with the West for regional influence, and underscored its determination to halt NATO's expansion.
The unresolved status of South Ossetia and Abkhazia has always given alliance members pause about accepting Georgia. The war and its aftermath have deepened NATO's predicament. Russia's grip on the separatist regions raises questions about how to handle the membership aspirations of a country with large chunks of territory beyond its control.
As the ambassadors arrived in Tbilisi, Russian President Dmitry A. Medvedev warned the West it would be "senseless" to pressure the Kremlin with sanctions - a step Western countries have not taken.
He also dismissed calls by some Western diplomats to prevent Russia from joining the World Trade Organization.
 
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