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Post by CHORNYVOLK on Dec 13, 2007 12:44:01 GMT -5
Russia takes Poland to task over Chechen leader airtime
17:50 | 13/ 12/ 2007
MOSCOW, December 13 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Foreign Ministry criticized Poland on Thursday over airtime given to Chechen separatist Akhmed Zakayev, and said the move was aimed at the worsening of bilateral relations.
"Granting airtime on the second channel of Polish state television to Zakayev, who has been charged with terrorism, cannot but cause indignation," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said on the ministry's Web site.
He also said it was possible that those behind the move were seeking to worsen rapidly improving Russian-Polish relations.
"It looks like not everyone in Poland likes this tendency," he commented.
Zakayev is wanted in Russia for acts of terrorism. He was granted political asylum in the U.K. after fleeing Russia in 2003. London has refused Moscow's repeated requests for his extradition.
The one-time actor at a Grozny theater was also involved with negotiations with Russian authorities over Chechen autonomy in 1999 before the start of the so-called Second Chechen War a year later.
Russian-Polish relations have shown signs of improvement following the autumn election of center-right politician Donald Tusk as premier. Ties had previously been strained over a dispute over the quality of polish meat.
Russia banned Polish meat exports in November 2005 over allegations that the country was supplying poor-quality meat from third countries. Poland vetoed talks on a new Russia-EU partnership and cooperation agreement in protest against the embargo.
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Post by balkannj on Dec 29, 2007 18:14:13 GMT -5
2007-12-28 18:30:38 MOSCOW, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili pledged to join NATO and peacefully restore the Georgian territorial integrity if reelected, Russian news agencies reported on Friday. "In case I am elected president for another term, Georgia will become a NATO member during my second term of office," Mikhail Saakashvili, who will run for a second term of office at an early presidential election on Jan. 5, told Rustavi-2 TV channel late on Thursday. He also said that his country will also "move closer to the European Union." "The territorial integrity of the country will be restored in a peaceful way and the process of Georgian reunification will be completed," Saakashvili said referring to breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. "After my second term of office expires I will hand over a united country to the next president of Georgia," he said. Georgia has been pursuing NATO membership since late 1990s and its officials have numerously stated they expect to get the status of a candidate for NATO membership in 2008, the Itar-Tass news agency reported. news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-12/28/content_7331415.htm |
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Post by CHORNYVOLK on Feb 4, 2008 21:17:43 GMT -5
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Post by balkannj on Feb 10, 2008 12:04:49 GMT -5
Russia has no plans to back independence for S.Ossetia, AbkhaziaMUNICH, February 10 (RIA Novosti) - Russia will not recognize the sovereignty of separatist South Ossetia and Abkhazia, if Serbia's breakaway province of Kosovo is declared independent, First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said on Sunday. Ivanov dismissed as erroneous the conjectures by some western politicians that Russia waited for declaration of Kosovo's independence to recognize the sovereignty of Georgia's breakaway republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. South Ossetia and Abkhazia declared independence from Georgia following bloody conflicts in the wake of the Soviet Union's collapse. Georgia's current pro-Western leadership has been seeking to recover its influence in the separatist regions and secure international support on the issue. The Albanian-dominated Serbian province of Kosovo has been a UN protectorate since the NATO bombing of the former Yugoslavia ended a conflict between Albanian and Serb forces in 1999. Most Western states back the volatile area's drive for independence, and recently agreed that Kosovo's status would be determined by the European Union and NATO. Russia insists that Belgrade and Pristina continue to seek a compromise. Kosovo's recently elected prime minister, Hashim Thaci, earlier said Pristina's independence was an accomplished fact and would be declared as soon as the United States and the European Union were ready to recognize it.
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Post by CHORNYVOLK on Feb 10, 2008 12:42:18 GMT -5
Notice he never mentioned the Crimea .
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Post by CHORNYVOLK on Feb 13, 2008 9:53:17 GMT -5
Georgian opposition leader Patarkatsishvili dies in London -2
12:33 | 13/ 02/ 2008
TBILISI, February 13 (RIA Novosti) - Georgian opposition leader Badri Patarkatsishvili, accused by Georgian authorities of attempting to instigate a coup during protests in the South Caucasus country last year, has died in London.
His death, which is thought to have occurred late on Tuesday, was announced on Georgian public television as the result of a heart attack.
Patarkatsishvili, 52, was one of the most influential opposition leaders in the ex-Soviet republic and Georgia's richest man. He came third in the recent January 5 presidential polls, garnering 7.1% of the vote.
"Medical experts are ascertaining the cause of death [of Patarkatsishvili]. It's my view that he was stressed over recent events in Georgia. I think this was the cause of Badri Patarkatsishvili's death," said Rati Shartava, the former head of the tycoon's campaign headquarters.
However, Patarkatsishvili's personal doctor later said that the tycoon had never suffered from heart problems. An autopsy will be held today.
In an interview with The Sunday Times in December, the tycoon said he feared he might be the target of an assassination plot. He referred to a tape recording allegedly containing a conversation between a Georgian interior ministry official and a Chechen warlord.
"Whoever was to do this . . . we want to be able to explain to the people in Georgia that it was Russia," the alleged official tells the warlord during the recording.
A warrant was issued by Georgian authorities for Patarkatsishvili's arrest late last year on charges of plotting a coup during November street protests in Tbilisi against Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. The businessman denied the accusations, although admitted offering a large sum of money to a senior interior ministry official in a bid to secure police support for protesters. The billionaire's bank accounts at Georgia's Standartbank were also frozen in connection with the case.
The businessman also owned a stake in the Georgian independent television station Imedi, which aired anti-government broadcasts until it was closed down by Georgian authorities in November. The station was later reopened, although its future status remains uncertain.
The coup charges came days after presidential elections in which Saakashvili was reelected as Georgian president, gaining around 53% of the vote. The opposition claims that the vote was rigged.
Patarkatsishvili repeatedly delayed his arrival in Georgia for election campaigning over what he said was a lack of security guarantees from the government.
Badri Patarkatsishvili was born into a Jewish family in Tbilisi. His involvement in the Soviet-era Communist youth organization, the Komsomol, subsequently helped him secure important contacts. His business activities were closely associated with Boris Berezovsky, a fugitive Russian tycoon living in London, who faces corruption and coup plotting charges in Russia.
The Georgian tycoon had himself faced a series of corruption charges, including in the case of Berezovsky's LogoVAZ group, of which Patarkatsishvili was a deputy general director.
The tycoon lived in Moscow for several years in the 1990s and was involved in the Russian media business. He was also the chairman of the Georgian soccer club Dynamo Tbilisi.
He is survived by a wife and two daughters.
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Post by CHORNYVOLK on Feb 13, 2008 9:53:33 GMT -5
Georgia tycoon death 'suspicious'
Mr Patarkatsishvili won only 7% of the vote in January
British police have said they are treating as "suspicious" the death of Georgian tycoon and opposition politician Badri Patarkatsishvili.
The 52-year-old died in Surrey, England on Tuesday. Aides said he had a heart attack, but his death has been referred to the Major Crimes Investigation Unit.
Mr Patarkatsishvili ran against President Mikhail Saakashvili in elections in January.
He has been charged with plotting a coup following protests last year.
Since then, Mr Patarkatsishvili has lived in self-imposed exile in Britain and Israel.
The multi-millionaire businessman was one of Georgia's richest and most controversial men, the BBC's Matthew Collin in Tbilisi says.
He financed his own presidential campaign in January.
The Georgian government came to regard him as its most powerful opponent, our correspondent says.
Post mortem examination
"Police were called to an address in Leatherhead in Surrey late yesterday evening (around 2300 GMT) following the collapse and death of a Georgian businessman, Badri Patarkatsishvili who is believed to have been 52," British police said in a statement.
"As with all unexpected deaths it is being treated as suspicious. A post-mortem will be held later today [Wednesday] to establish the cause of death," it said.
The death of Badri Patarkatsishvili is a terrible tragedy - I have lost my closest friend
Boris Berezovsky
The results of the post-mortem examination, which will be carried out in Guildford, are not expected to be conclusive, and further toxicology tests will be carried out.
Surrey Police later confirmed they had referred the death to their Major Crimes Investigations Unit.
Mr Patarkatsishvili's former business associate, exiled Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky, said he had seen him that day.
He was not ill but had complained about his heart, he said.
"The death of Badri Patarkatsishvili is a terrible tragedy," he said in a statement. "I have lost my closest friend."
"This is a huge loss for all of his family and friends."
Mr Berezovsky said he would make no further comment on the circumstances of Mr Patarkatsishvili's death until the authorities had completed their investigation.
'Assassination plot'
A supporter of the so-called Rose Revolution which brought Mr Saakashvili to power in 2004, Mr Patarkatsishvili later turned against the government and began financing opposition parties.
Mr Patarkatsishvili financed several Georgian opposition groups
The authorities accused him of offering a $100m (�50m) bribe to a senior police official to help him overthrow the government and seize the Georgian interior minister.
He denied the charge, saying that he himself was being targeted in an assassination plot.
But the main opposition tried to distance itself from his election campaign, and he came third with just 7% of the vote behind their official candidate Levan Gachechiladze.
Mr Patarkatsishvili co-owned Georgia's popular Imedi TV station with Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.
Mr Saakashvili pulled the plug on Imedi - the main outlet for opposition views - amid a brief period of emergency rule last November that saw troops tear-gas protesters in Tbilisi.
The tycoon made his fortune in Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
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Post by CHORNYVOLK on Feb 13, 2008 10:18:16 GMT -5
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Post by Lonevolk on Feb 17, 2008 21:16:41 GMT -5
Pretty good article on possible consequences of Kosovo's independence. The real geo-political target is Russia.....This Kosovo drama with Serbia is just another episode along the way ................ Georgia: Heading for NATO -- Abkhazia: A Union with Russia?07.02.2008 Leonid IVASHOV en.fondsk.ru/article.php?id=1197 |
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Post by medo on Feb 19, 2008 14:01:42 GMT -5
Abkhazia, South Ossetia's sovereignty could spark CIS crisisMOSCOW, February 19 (RIA Novosti) - Russia could possibly recognize the independence of Georgia's breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, but a serious crisis in the CIS would follow, a top Russian lawmaker said on Tuesday. Leaders of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, two Georgian breakaway republics, which saw a bloody conflict after they declared independence from Georgia in 1991, said that Kosovo's independence proclaimed unilaterally last Sunday should be taken into account as far as their sovereignty is concerned. "We should understand that by recognizing the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia we could trigger a serious crisis in the CIS," Konstantin Kosachyov, head of the International Affairs Committee at the State Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament, said, adding that over half of all ex-Soviet states "have their own Kosovo and Abkhazia." In the 1990s, CIS member states forged an agreement that their state frontiers should be defined by Soviet administrative borders and any violation of the agreement could mar diplomatic relations not only with the CIS countries, but also with NATO, the EU and the U.S. " From the viewpoint of international law, we recognize Georgia in its borders, including Abkhazia and South Ossetia," the lawmaker said. The Russian parliament said in a statement on Monday that the Kosovo precedent gives Russia the right to forge new relationships with self-proclaimed states. "The declaration of sovereignty by Kosovo and its recognition will undoubtedly be taken into account in [Russia's] relations with Abkhazia and South Ossetia," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement last week. en.rian.ru/russia/20080219/99630393.html
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Post by medo on Feb 19, 2008 14:06:09 GMT -5
As I predicted before (see for example Reply #21 I wrote 5 months ago here www.slavija.proboards37.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=1190086263&page=2) -> Russia shall not recognize breakaway provinces in Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan, at least not immediately. Instead Russia has gotten a free gift from the West -> neither Georgia nor Azerbaijan shall ever join NATO, or they shall really and definitely loose their provinces... I am not saying that Russia shall or shall not recognize the break away provinces in CIS countries. I am only saying that Russia shall act in its own interests and its actions will depend on many factors and on particular events (e.g. desire of Georgia to continue on NATO membership path, reaction of the world on Kosovo " independence" etc...). One thong is for sure -> Russia does not have to rush! The West is desperately eager to provoke an immediate and thoughtless Russian response, but Russia has intelligent and serious political elite... |
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Post by CHORNYVOLK on Feb 22, 2008 14:20:00 GMT -5
Also Friday, Russia -- which has not recognized Kosovo's sovereignty -- said it has not ruled out using force to resolve the dispute over the territory if NATO forces breach the terms of their U.N. mandate. "If the EU works out a single position or if NATO steps beyond its mandate in Kosovo, these organizations will be in conflict with the U.N., and then I think we will also begin operating under the assumption that in order to be respected, one needs to use force," Moscow's ambassador to NATO Dmitry Rogozin said, in comments carried by Russia's Interfax news agency. read the rest here www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/02/22/serbia.kosovo/?iref=hpmostpop |
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Post by medo on Feb 22, 2008 14:34:32 GMT -5
Also Friday, Russia -- which has not recognized Kosovo's sovereignty -- said it has not ruled out using force to resolve the dispute over the territory if NATO forces breach the terms of their U.N. mandate. "If the EU works out a single position or if NATO steps beyond its mandate in Kosovo, these organizations will be in conflict with the U.N., and then I think we will also begin operating under the assumption that in order to be respected, one needs to use force," Moscow's ambassador to NATO Dmitry Rogozin said, in comments carried by Russia's Interfax news agency. read the rest here www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/02/22/serbia.kosovo/?iref=hpmostpopAs I said in another post in a thread posted by Vladimir -> Russia is not threating to use the force for Kosovo! Russia is not threatening NATO! The message is sent to Georgia! First, this is a news from CNN and western media are working for the western politics which desperately tries to involve Russia into a military conflict, in order to try to take its natural resources. So the western media are just blowing up the story but Russia is clever and it shall not allow to be dragged into military conflict for Kosovo. Second, Rogozin didn't say that Russia shall use force for Kosovo -> he simply said that Russia shall use the force in order to be respected. He obviously meant using the force for conflict in CIS space (Georgia, Moldavia...). This message was for CIS internal purposes -> this was a message primarily for Georgia! Third and the most important -> I think that Russia must not allow to be involved into a military conflict with the West over Kosovo. TIME works for Russia and the Westerners know this! More times pases Russia is stronger and the west is weaker! Regarding Kosovo Russia could possibly only send arms to the Serbs (like the westerners send arms to Georgia) and Serbs shall do the job for themselves! Serbs could be in Tirana for just a month! CONCLUSION -> the West desperately tries to INFLUENCE Russian politics! They try to force Russia to do something, anything, therefore to CHANGE its politics in CIS. But Russia is clever -> it shall not allow to be influenced by the Western decisions! It shall act according to its own interests. If Russia CHANGED its politics it would be proof to the West that their actions could influence Russia policy! |
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Post by medo on Feb 22, 2008 14:49:17 GMT -5
Putin says policy on CIS to remain unchanged under MedvedevMOSCOW, February 22 (RIA Novosti) - President Vladimir Putin said Friday that Russia's foreign policy in the Commonwealth of Independent States would remain unchanged if Dmitry Medvedev wins the presidential election on March 2. "I do not think we will have any revolutionary changes, because Dmitry Anatolyevich [Medvedev] is one of the authors of Russian policy in this sphere," Putin told an informal summit in Moscow of leaders from the CIS, a loose coalition of former Soviet republics. First Deputy Prime Minister Medvedev confirmed that the CIS would remain a priority of Russia's foreign policy. Addressing the leaders, Putin proposed adopting a development program for the CIS for the next 12 years. "We should work out an innovation and new economic strategy up to 2020," he said. The Russian leader also thanked CIS leaders for their cooperation during his eight years as president, and gave a strong endorsement for his likely successor, Medvedev. "I have known Dmitry Medvedev for a very long time, we've been working together for over 17 years. ... When he worked as chief of presidential staff, he was one of the most intimate members of my team, and together we worked out all key decisions, including on the CIS," he said. en.rian.ru/russia/20080222/99897624.html----------------------------------- I think that by using the Kosovo issue the Westerners tried to influence Russia to change its policy in CIS... but they fail! P.S. Look at the picture in the RIA Novosti article -> Medvedev is looking into Putin's back like hypnotized, following him, and Putin is smiling. I think we all understand the message ;D
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Post by CHORNYVOLK on Feb 22, 2008 17:14:45 GMT -5
Also Friday, Russia -- which has not recognized Kosovo's sovereignty -- said it has not ruled out using force to resolve the dispute over the territory if NATO forces breach the terms of their U.N. mandate.
He is speaking of Kosovo here
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