RUSSIA: Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov speaks on crisis with Georgia, and North Korea's planned nuclear test

Russia on Tuesday (October 3, 2006) rejected calls from the European Union to lift economic sanctions on Georgia, saying it had cut transport links to curb a dangerous military build-up by its pro-Western neighbour. In unusually strident remarks, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also took a swipe at the United States, saying its support for Georgia had "stimulated" Tbilisi into taking unfriendly steps against Russia. Russia cut rail, air and postal links with ex-Soviet Georgia in response to the arrest of four Russian soldiers on spying charges. Tbilisi released the four on Monday in what it termed a goodwill gesture. But Moscow made clear the spying row was just part of what it sees as a deeper dispute with Georgia, which has irked Moscow by aggressively pursuing membership of NATO and the European Union and pulling out of Russia's orbit. Asked at a Moscow news conference if the sanctions might soon be lifted, Lavrov replied: "Not for the time being." "So, [people wonder] well the officers have been freed and why should tense relations continue? For some reason, when over the past few years we consistently and calmly, but firmly, tried to attract attention to the increasing negative atmosphere caused by the actions of the Georgian leadership no one called upon the Georgian leadership to have a normal relationship with us. And now [the case over] the officers is not even the culmination, but it's merely one manifestation of the Georgian leadership's policies." He said Georgia was channelling funds from organised crime in Russia into a slush fund to buy weapons in a massive military build-up. The build-up was directed at the Georgian breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, said Lavrov. Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has vowed to restore central control over the regions, which are backed by Moscow. Georgia says it is boosting military spending to reverse years of neglect and bring its armed forces up to NATO standards. It has ruled out military action against its breakaway regions. Lavrov spoke to foreign journalists in an attempt to address growing Western unease over Moscow's decision to go ahead with the sanctions even after Tbilisi released the Russian servicemen. "The Georgian leadership actions have consistently become anti-Russian --- with statements like "our northern enemy", "the occupiers" and statements that the conflict in South Ossetia and Abkhazia is not inter-ethnic, but is a conflict between Russia and Georgia, and unfortunately some of my colleagues, namely the Belgium Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht who is now head of the OSCE, has also seized upon this thesis and also called the conflict in South Ossetia and Abkhazia a conflict between Russia and Georgia." At his news conference, Lavrov pointed out that Georgia arrested the Russian servicemen soon after a visit by Saakashvili to Washington. Turning to the issue of North Korea's nuclear ambitions, Russia said on Tuesday it was "deeply concerned" about North Korean plans to conduct its first nuclear test and urged Pyongyang to exercise restraint. Pyongyang, which made its announcement earlier on Tuesday, said it would never use atomic weapons first and remained committed to the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula. "This isn't the first time that there has been information that the KPR [Korean People's Republic) has allegedly announced it will soon test a rocket with a nuclear device. But with the majority of these announcements, nothing ever came of it. We, together with the other six participants in negotiations, have been consistently working with Pyongyang to convince them to show restraint, and not to allow any rash moves on the issue that you mentioned. We hope the efforts which we now propose will lead to a resumption of six-way negotiations in the near future. This would substantially help deal with financial problems that have arisen, and therefore we need direct contact between the United States and the KPR. I repeat, we support settling the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula through negotiations, and I hope that we will return to this issue," said Lavrov.

ITN Source | October 4, 2006

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