POST-SOVIET SECURITY BLOC BACKS RUSSIA OVER GEORGIA ARMS EMBARGO
RIA Novosti
16:59 | 03/ 09/ 2008
YEREVAN, September 3 (RIA Novosti) – Heads of the security councils of
a post-Soviet security bloc have backed a Russian proposal to impose
an arms embargo on Georgia, the head of the Russian Security Council
said on Wednesday.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that Moscow
would like to see the imposition of an embargo on arms supplies to
Georgia until a change of leadership takes place in the Caucasus state.
"We are against arming [Georgian President Mikheil] Saakashvili’s
regime, and creating preconditions for the genocide of this or another
ethnic group," Nikolai Patrushev said following a session of the heads
of the security councils of the Collective Security Treaty Organization
(CSTO) in Yerevan, Armenia.
The Collective Security Treaty Organization is a security grouping
comprising Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia,
Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan.
"We know that a number of countries had been supplying arms to Georgia
and Saakashvili, and that the country’s military budget had increased
by more than 30 times. It is clear that they were preparing for it
[military conflict]," Patrushev said.
South Ossetia was attacked by Georgian forces on August 8. The
majority of residents of South Ossetia hold Russian citizenship,
and Moscow launched a massive operation to expel Georgian troops from
the region and to reinforce its peacekeepers.
According to information provided last month by the Russian General
Staff, since 2005, Georgian tank numbers increased from 98 to 183,
armored vehicles from 83 to 134, artillery weapons from 96 to 238,
combat helicopters from three to nine, and warplanes from seven
to nine.
"We cannot but be concerned that humanitarian aid [to Georgia]
is delivered by [NATO] warships equipped with modern weapons,"
Patrushev said.
Tensions between Russia and the West have been heightened further
by the build up in the Black Sea of U.S. and NATO naval vessels
delivering humanitarian aid to Georgia. In an apparent response,
Russia last week sent a group of warships, including the Moskva
missile cruiser, to Sukhumi, the capital of Abkhazia.
The U.S. has staunchly supported its ally Georgia throughout the
crisis and has sent millions of dollars in humanitarian aid to the
South Caucasus state. Russia has however expressed concern over the
aid shipments, saying that it suspects they could include arms. The
U.S. has denied the allegation.
Patrushev also said that the security organization backed Russia’s
response to the Georgian military offensive in South Ossetia.
"The heads of the CSTO security councils have also backed Russia’s
measures, just like the SCO members did earlier… There is no doubt
that the Georgians deliberately started the war," he said.
China and the other members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization
(SCO) voiced their support last month for Russia’s actions in regard
to Georgia and South Ossetia following the recent conflict.
The security bloc, seen as a counterweight to NATO’s influence in
Eurasia, comprises China, Russia, and four Central Asian states –
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
However, the Asian countries stopped short of backing Russia’s move
to recognize the independence of the breakaway province, along with
Georgia’s other rebel region, Abkhazia.
Russia officially recognized the independence of South Ossetia and
Abkhazia last week despite Western warnings, saying the move was
needed to protect the regions.
Meanwhile, Yury Zhadobin, the state secretary of the Belarusian
Security Council, told journalists on Wednesday that the issue of South
Ossetia and Abkhazia joining the Union State of Russia and Belarus was
likely to be discussed Thursday at a meeting of CSTO foreign ministers.