New agreement between Russia, China & Central Asian States

[Sassy]

Russia wins backing from China

By Alexander Osipovich

August 28, 2008 08:00pm
Article from: Agence France-Presse

RUSSIA today won support from China and Central Asian states in its standoff with the West over the Georgia conflict as the European Union said it was weighing sanctions against Moscow.

Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev said he hoped the "united position'' of a summit of Central Asian nations would ``serve as a serious signal to those who try to turn black into white.''

The West has strongly condemned Russia's military offensive in Georgia this month and Medvedev's decision to recognise the breakaway Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states.

Ratcheting up pressure on Russia, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, whose country holds the presidency of the European Union, said the 27-nation bloc was preparing sanctions on Moscow.

EU leaders meet on Monday in Brussels for an emergency summit to press demands for a further Russian withdrawal from Georgia.

"Sanctions are being considered, and many other means,'' Kouchner said in Paris.

China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan voiced support for Russia's "active role'' in resolving the conflict in Georgia, according to the draft of a joint statement released by the Kremlin.

Leaders from the countries met in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a regional group set up in 2001 to counter NATO influence in the strategic Central Asia region.

Yesterday, the Group of Seven industrialised powers strongly condemned Russia's recognition of the two rebel regions.

"We deplore Russia's excessive use of military force in Georgia and its continued occupation of parts of Georgia,'' said the statement from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.

Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith today summoned Russia's ambassador to Canberra to urge Moscow to pull its troops in Georgia back to the positions they held before the conflict began.

Smith told Ambassador Alexander Blokhin that Russia's decision to recognise South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent was unhelpful for Russia's ties with the world.

"They had a frank exchange of views,'' the spokeswoman for Smith said.

"Mr Smith stated that Australia respects the territorial integrity of Georgia and believes that Russia should abide by ceasefire arrangements and return to the positions they occupied (before the conflict began).''

Former Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze warned meanwhile that Russia's recognition of the regions would boomerang on Moscow.

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