NATO chief urges Russia to accept commitment on non-use of force
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen urged Russia to accept a commitment on non-use of force against Georgia. He said this during a meeting with youth and students in the National Library of Georgia in Tbilisi.
"I know that Georgia has unilaterally taken this commitment and publicly stated this, so I call on Russia to assume the same commitment," he said.
In the framework of the Geneva consultations the day before, head of the Russian delegation, Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said that Russia will not take any such commitment before Georgia and that Tbilisi should conclude similar agreements with Sukhumi and Tskhinvali.
"We applaud the efforts of the new government to settle relations with Russia, and we believe that this approach is aimed at resolving the conflicts in Georgia," Rasmussen said.
Georgia and Russia, its giant northern neighbor, have maintained no diplomatic relations since a brief war in 2008. Tbilisi broke off relations with Moscow in August 2008 when Moscow crushed a Georgian assault to reassert control over the two rebel regions -- South Ossetia and Abkhazia -- and later recognized the breakaway regions. Georgia announced the two unrecognized republics as occupied territories in September 2008.