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Wrap: Russia-Georgia peacekeeping dispute gains momentum

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Russia's foreign minister said Wednesday that Georgia, which seeks to join NATO, was deliberately disrupting mechanisms designed to resolve the conflicts.
MOSCOW/TBILISI, July 19 (RIA Novosti) - Georgia and Russia continued to trade accusations Wednesday after the Caucasus state's parliament demanded the pullout of Russian peacekeepers from conflict zones in its territory.

The Georgian parliament passed a resolution Tuesday advising the government to suspend peacekeeping operations in the breakaway regions and replace Russian troops with an international contingent, thereby to terminate the 1992 and 1994 bilateral agreements authorizing Russia's peacekeeping missions in South Ossetia and Abkhazia respectively.

Russia's foreign minister said Wednesday that Georgia, which seeks to join NATO, was deliberately disrupting mechanisms designed to resolve the conflicts.

"Georgia is continuing to sabotage the mechanisms that have been designed to resolve conflicts with South Ossetia and Abkhazia," Sergei Lavrov told Ekho Moskvy radio.

Lavrov also accused Georgia of refusing to accept proposals made by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to conclude agreements with the self-proclaimed republics that would prohibit the use of force, and guarantee security in the conflict zones.

On Tuesday, however, Georgian parliament speaker Nino Burdzhanadze said Georgia was willing to strike peace deals with the breakaway regions on condition of reliable international security guarantees, which Russia was unable to provide.

"We will not sign a treaty in the Russian peacekeepers' format, that would be an illusion," Burdzhanadze said.

Georgia has accused Russia of backing separatism in its breakaway regions and planning to annex its sovereign territories, thereby stalling the settlement process. Russia has dismissed the accusations, saying it helped end bloodshed in the region in the 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union and wants to prevent a new wave of violence.

Georgian officials and politicians said Russia's condemnation of the resolution Tuesday as "provocative" and "irresponsible" was insulting.

A senior member of the Georgian parliament, Konstantin Gabashvili said: "When they realize that they have to protect themselves from the consequences of their immoral policies, they switch to insults," adding they Georgia must not be put off balance and continue work to achieve its goals.

But Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili moved to allay the tensions, saying Georgia was ready to a compromise to break the current impasse in relations with Russia. He also said he hoped a mooted meeting between the Georgian and Russian presidents would be constructive.

President Mikheil Saakashvili said Tuesday that the final decision on peacekeepers could be made at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The leaders could meet on the sidelines of a summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States, to take place in Moscow on July 21-23.

"The only fundamental issue at this meeting will be the preservation of Georgia's integrity, and we are ready for any compromise, any model here. So we are bringing specific proposals to Moscow restart the peace process," Bezhuashvili said.

Georgia's Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli, meanwhile, ordered the Foreign Ministry and the office of State Minister for Conflict Resolution to draft documents to enforce the parliamentary resolution on Russian peacekeepers.

The parliament of the self-proclaimed republic of Abkhazia issued a statement Wednesday saying the Georgian decision to expel Russian peacekeepers could lead to a war, and that Abkhazia would not allow Russian troops to be replaced with an international contingent.

In the statement, Abkhazian parliamentarians said the resolution was "another trick energetically devised by Georgian members of parliament, and will plunge the Georgian people into the abyss of war and bloodshed, taking along those who have been trying to prove their right to freedom and independence for many years."

According to Abkhazian sources, clashes with Georgia in the 1990s left 5,000 fighting on its side dead. The war also forced 300,000 residents of the self-declared autonomy - more than 60% of the population living there before the war - to flee their homes to seek refuge in other regions of Georgia or abroad.

About 3,000 Georgian troops and some 7,000 civilians of all ethnic origins were killed in the war in Abkhazia, according to official Georgian sources.

"Abkhazia will not allow Russian peacekeepers to be replaced with any international police detachments, which would later forcibly return Abkhazia and South Ossetia to Georgia upon its orders," said parliament speaker Nugzar Ashuba.

One of Russia's most experienced politicians warned Wednesday that the pullout of peacekeepers could lead to disaster, as conflicts in the region could erupt again, and extremists from neighboring North Caucasus regions could appear in the conflict zones.

Yevgeny Primakov, a former foreign minister and prime minister, said: "Nobody would be able to seal borders and people from the North Caucasus would become involved in the conflict. They should think a thousand times before asking us to withdraw."

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