The Associated Press
September 7, 2008 Sunday 11:48 AM GMT

Cheney holds talks in Italy on Georgia crisis

By ALESSANDRA RIZZO, Associated Press Writer
CERNOBBIO, Italy

U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney renewed his call for cooperation
between Europe and Washington over the Georgia crisis, Italy’s foreign
minister said Sunday.

Franco Frattini said that during talks he and Cheney expressed their
"shared wish for intense collaboration between Europe and the United
States."

"This Caucasus crisis cannot be solved unless there is intense
collaboration … which we will have," Frattini said after the
40-minute meeting on the sidelines of a conference on Lake Como.

The two also discussed EU dependance on Russian oil and gas, a crucial
factor in the 27-nation bloc’s dealing of the crisis following five
days of fighting last month between Georgia and Russia.

The EU buys 30 percent of the oil it imports from Russia, while about
40 percent of the EU’s imported natural gas also comes from Russia.

The bloc will discuss ways to reduce its dependance on Russian energy
at a summit in October, and Frattini said Cheney suggested inviting
Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. The foreign minister welcomed the
suggestion and said he would relay it to France, which holds the EU’s
rotating presidency.

Cheney’s visit to Italy was part of a tour that also took him to
Georgia, Ukraine and Azerbaijan. Later Sunday, he arrived in Rome,
where he will hold talks in the coming days with senior Italian
officials, including Premier Silvio Berlusconi a staunch U.S. ally.

In his address to the conference of global political and business
leaders, Cheney issued a strong rebuke of Russia. He described
Moscow’s actions in the conflict with Georgia as an "affront to
civilized standards," and called on Western nations to jointly prevent
Russia from using its position as a dominant energy supplier to
intimidate its neighbors.

He also spoke of Russian arms sales to hostile Mideast nations, saying
Moscow "has sold advanced weapons to regimes in Syria and Iran. Some
of the Russian weapons sold to Damascus have been channeled to
terrorist fighters in Lebanon and Iraq."

According to the Israeli daily Maariv, Cheney touched on the same
theme during talks with the Israeli President Shimon Peres, also
attending the conference.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress