پارس نيوز ParsNewZ Latest News » Europe

Putin warns Britain against harbouring Russian dissidents

admin — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 14:20:18 +0000

David Miliband has allegedly come in for a rather undiplomatic tongue-lashing from his Russian counterpart.

The Foreign Secretary was apparently given a furious dressing down by Sergei Lavrov over the telephone.

Mr Miliband’s criticism of Russia’s recent incursion into Georgia is believed to have sparked the colourful tirade.
One unconfirmed report suggested that Mr Lavrov said: ‘Who are you to f*** lecture me?’

A Whitehall insider told the Daily Telegraph: ‘It was effing this and effing that. It was not what you would call diplomatic language. It was rather shocking.’

The incident came as an equally belligerent Vladimir Putin told media that Russia had to invade Georgia: ‘What did you expect us to do? Respond with a catapult? We punched the aggressor in the face.’
Mr Miliband had allegedly been putting forward Britain and Europe’s objections to Russia’s incursion into the breakaway region of South Ossetia last month.

It is also understood that Mr Lavrov grilled Mr Miliband on Britain and America’s invasion of Iraq as part of his response to the Foreign Secretary’s criticism.

Don't Miss

Russia to boost its military capability

admin — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 21:03:44 +0000

Enhancement of Russia’s firepower has become of paramount importance thanks to Georgia’s ‘aggression’ and ‘continuing militarization’.

The recent decision, announced by President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday, was made against a backdrop of unrest triggered by Georgia’s August 8 invasion of South Ossetia to reclaim the independence-leaning province.

Russian forces stepped in subsequently as the Georgian incursion had endangered the lives of the Russian citizens who comprise 80 percent of the republic’s population.

Medvedev was quoted by ITAR-TASS as saying “the problems that emerged of late…the events in the Caucasus - Georgia’s aggression and its continuing militarization,” have made it “the highest priorities of the state” for Russia to inject more weapons into its military.
“We shall be doing so consistently and scrupulously,” he added.

The concerns, pointing to the possibility of a recurrent Georgian raid, echoed similar ones raised by the Russian officials.

In the latest move aimed at toning the military muscles, 20 Su-27 Flanker fighter, comparable to US’ F-15 Eagle warplanes, have been tasked with exercises in southern Russia.

Source:Agencies. We provide the latest news and YOU decide:
(All posts are from independent writers. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not endorsed by parsnewz.com.)

Don't Miss

Georgia accuses Russia of breaking truce

admin — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 19:22:40 +0000

Georgia accused Russian soldiers of violating a fragile truce on Wednesday by killing a Georgian policeman, as a major crack appeared in the EU-brokered ceasefire over the remit of EU observers.

The Georgians said it was the first fatal shooting since the August 12 ceasefire that brought an end to the five-day war between Georgia and Russia over Georgia’s breakaway region of South Ossetia.

“This is the first time that Georgian police or military personnel have been shot at since the ceasefire began,” Georgian interior ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili told AFP.

An unnamed spokesman for the Russian forces in South Ossetia quoted by Interfax denied the incident and said he would not believe it until the Georgians showed him the body.

Georgia’s interior ministry told AFP the officer died in hospital from wounds to the head and throat after being fired on near Karaleti, a key Russian position on the road from the Georgian city of Gori to South Ossetia.

The Georgian foreign ministry reacted furiously, accusing the Russians of gross ceasefire violations.

Russia’s “armed forces not only do not comply with the political commitments undertaken by their president… but go as far as to completely disregard them thus causing the death of innocent people,” the ministry said.

Georgia’s August 7 offensive to regain control of South Ossetia from Moscow-backed separatists prompted a massive retaliatory thrust by Russia into Georgian territory from which thousands of Russian troops have yet to withdraw.

Russia argues that it repelled Georgian troops to protect thousands of people whom it had granted Russian citizenship since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. The West accuses it of seeking to redraw the map by effectively annexing part of its ex-Soviet neighbour.

Hundreds of people on both sides are estimated to have been killed in the conflict. Tens of thousands fled their homes.

In Moscow on Wednesday, Russia ruled out allowing EU observers into South Ossetia and a second Georgian breakaway region called Abkhazia.

The move directly contradicted claims by Nicolas Sarkozy and threw into doubt a new peace plan the French president had brokered just two days previously with Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev.

“Additional international observers will be deployed precisely around South Ossetia and Abkhazia and not inside these republics,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told journalists in Moscow.

Medvedev committed on Monday to withdraw within a month all Russian troops from Georgia apart from the breakaway provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and to allow the deployment of 200 EU observers.

Sarkozy, speaking at the head of an EU delegation early Tuesday alongside Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili in Tbilisi, said: “The spirit of the text is that they (the EU observers) will have a mandate to enter (Abkhazia and South Ossetia), to observe, to report.”

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, also part of the EU delegation, said Wednesday that the location of the observers had not been discussed during talks, but that access to the territories was clearly in the “spirit” of the agreements.

Russia has tightened control over Abkhazia and South Ossetia since the ceasefire, recognising them as independent states, establishing diplomatic relations and vowing to keep 7,600 troops there long-term.

The opening of ties on Tuesday drew a furious response in the Georgian capital Tbilisi where Deputy Foreign Minister Giga Bokeria described it as “yet another step in the annexation of Georgia’s sovereign territories.”

Don't Miss

Confusion over uranium sales grows as Stephen Smith reaches India

admin — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 17:49:18 +0000

CONFUSION surrounding the Rudd Government’s “puritanical” stand over India’s civilian nuclear deal intensified last night as Foreign Minister Stephen Smith arrived in the country and said he doubted he would even have a conversation about Australian uranium supplies.

Mr Smith’s assertion contrasted sharply with the expectation of senior Indian officials. “Uranium is the No1 issue between us, and hopefully he will be willing to talk about it,” said one senior official.

Another added: “Mr Rudd’s affection for China is well known. Clearly China is influencing their (Australian) policy towards us over uranium supplies.”

As he landed in the southern city of Chennai at the start of a five-day visit, Mr Smith said he expected to include in talks with Indian leaders last week’s historic decision by the Nuclear Suppliers Group to allow the country access to the global trade in nuclear supplies.

But he did not expect to discuss Australia selling uranium to India.

Mr Smith is expected to arrive in New Delhi tomorrow and, unusually, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has made time to see him.

The Indian Prime Minister does not normally meet foreign ministers of mid-ranking powers such as Australia, but his decision to make himself available to Mr Smith is seen as underlining India’s priority to acquire uranium supplies.

The Indian leader’s Government has come close to collapse over the nuclear deal with Washington and sees it as one of the most important developments in the country’s history.

Mr Smith insists there is no conflict between the Australian position within the NSG and its ban on yellowcake sales to India as long as New Delhi refuses to sign the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty.

In Canberra, the federal Opposition is revelling in the Rudd Government’s discomfort at having to refuse to sell uranium to India — a decision that will cost Australian miners billions of dollars in lost export income.

Opposition trade spokesman Andrew Robb said yesterday: “For Mr Smith to say he wants to advance the relationship with India while saying at the same time that Australia will never sell uranium to them is a massive contradiction and an insult.

“India’s energy security and needs are the major issues in the relationship between our two countries.

“This issue can strategically make Australia a very important partner to India. It is the thing India really wants from us. It is the big issue.”

The Rudd Government was acting hypocritically by supporting the Washington-backed decision of the 44 member suppliers group to sell uranium to India for its energy needs but at the same time refusing to sell India Australian uranium, Mr Robb said.

It made no sense to sell Australian uranium to China and Russia but not to India — the world’s biggest democracy, he added.

Australia has the world’s largest reserves of uranium but will only sell uranium to NPT signatory nations. India says it needs Australian uranium not for military purposes but to satisfy its growing dependence on civil nuclear power to provide for its insatiable domestic energy needs.