SOUTH OSSETIAN SCENARIO MUST NOT BE REPEATED IN OTHER FROZEN CONFLICT ZONES

Interfax
Aug 20 2008
Russia

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has said that everything should
be done to avoid repeating the South Ossetian scenario in other frozen
conflict zones.

"We should do everything to avoid such a scenario in other frozen
conflict zones," he said at a joint press conference with Romanian
President Traian Basescu in Kyiv on Wednesday.

He listed Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia, and Transdniestria among
such zones.

Yushchenko recalled that Ukraine does not recognize the military
solution of conflicts. "We should make it very clear that we support
the territorial integrity of any state," he said.

He said Ukraine and Romania share the same approach to the settlement
of the Georgian situation. He noted that the recognition of Georgia’s
territorial integrity should become a key principle.

The president voiced concern over the slow implementation of the
Russian-Georgian peace agreements, including the withdrawal of Russian
troops from Georgia.

Basescu, in turn, said the conflict should be settled on the basis
of the peace plan proposed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. He
was also concerned that after the war in South Ossetia other frozen
conflicts "will be unfrozen and have negative effects."

In his opinion, Black Sea countries and EU nations must develop new
mechanisms to resolve problems in conflict zones.