MEDVEDEV TO RAISE CAUCASUS CRISIS IN STATE OF NATION ADDRESS
RIA Novosti
14:55 | 03/ 11/ 2008
MOSCOW, November 3 (RIA Novosti) – Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
will speak about the situation in the Caucasus in his state of the
nation address next Wednesday.
The November 5 state of the nation address, twice postponed from
October 23 and 30, will be Medvedev’s first, and the 15th delivered
to parliament by a Russian head of state.
"This document will include answers to a number of quintessential
questions that the country faces," Medvedev promised in his latest
video blog posted on his website on Sunday.
In particular, he highlighted the Caucasus crisis. "We cannot avoid
its repercussions, not only for our country but for the entire world,"
he said.
Medvedev said his address would contain the usual issues. "But life is
so eventful that in every new address, naturally, these issues take
on quite different dimensions," ha said, giving the global financial
crisis as an example.
He also said he would touch upon ways to improve the life of Russians,
reform of the armed forces, and international issues.
Georgia attacked its breakaway republic of South Ossetia on August
8 in a bid to bring it back under central control.
Moscow subsequently launched an operation to repel Georgian forces
from the region and later recognized both South Ossetia and another
breakaway republic, Abkhazia, as independent states.
The presidents of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan met in Moscow
on Sunday to try and find a resolution to the Nagorny Karabakh
conflict. The meeting ended with Medvedev, Armenian President Serzh
Sargsyan and Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev signing a declaration
agreeing to continue seeking a resolution to the conflict.
Nagorny Karabakh, a region in Azerbaijan with a largely Armenian
population, declared its independence from Azerbaijan to join Armenia
in 1988 and has been a source of conflict ever since.