Russia says it`s ready to protect South Ossetia
MOSCOW – Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said today that Russia was ready to do anything to protect the Georgian breakaway region of South Ossetia from Tbilisi's "military provocations," Reuters reported.
Russia fought a brief war with Georgia in 2008 after Tbilisi tried to regain control of South Ossetia with a military assault.
Russia later recognized the rebel region as an independent country.
Lavrov said Russia does not exclude "military provocations" from Georgia, because, as he put it, "you can expect anything from the current regime in Tbilisi."
Lavrov was speaking on a trip to South Ossetia on Monday.
At the same time, the Russian minister criticized Western nations for strengthening Georgia’s military forces which, in Russia’s view, does not add to the peace and security in the Caucasus. "The help that is rendered to Georgia by the West is aimed precisely on the strengthening of its military factor and this pushes Georgia to provocations. We must do everything to preserve peace, as South Ossetian and Georgian peoples want to live in peace," Lavrov said.