NATO warns Russia not to interfere in Georgia

BRUSSELS: NATO warned Russia Wednesday to stop undermining Georgia's territorial integrity, after Moscow announced it would send more peacekeepers to two rebel Georgian regions.
 
Russia's move, to counter what it said was the massing of Georgian troops near Abkhazia and South Ossetia, raised concern in the United States while the European Union has said that any military build-up would not be wise.

"The steps that have been taken (by Russia) and the rhetoric that has been used concerning the threat of force have increased tensions and have undermined Georgia's territorial integrity," NATO spokesman James Appathurai said.

"The allies are unanimous in supporting, endorsing Georgia's territorial integrity and will not recognise or support steps that undermine that sovereignty," he said.

NATO announced at a summit early this month that Georgia would one day become a member of the 26-nation military alliance, in the face of fierce Russian opposition.

Russia objects to NATO moving closer to its borders and is deeply concerned that the breakaway regions could be destabilised by Tbilisi's rapprochement with Moscow's old Cold War-era foe.

Georgia claims that Russia has, over the last three months, strengthened its control over Abkhazia and established direct ties with the local authorities.

In a tit-for-tat measure, Tbilisi vowed Wednesday to block Russia's bid to join the World Trade Organisation unless it drops plans for direct trade links with the two regions.

The Russian peacekeeping announcement is only fuelling problems, said President Mikheil Saakashvili's new "special representative" and top Georgian diplomat, David Bakradze.

"It's hard to believe that this is being done for the purposes of peacekeeping, it's rather the beginning of full-scale military aggression," he told AFP by telephone during a trip to Brussels.

"The Georgian side, as the host country, should be notified in advance and there should be consent from Georgia on any troop deployment, including peacekeepers. We have not been notified," he said.

"Peacekeeping is not strengthened by unilateral steps."

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said the United States was concerned about the situation.

"We respect Georgia's territorial integrity, and we would urge everyone to maintain a level of dialogue, rather than take any further action," she told reporters, adding that due to the fast-changing situation it would be imprudent of her to comment further.

Russia has peacekeepers in Abkhazia and South Ossetia under an agreement with Georgia from the 1990s following wars in which separatists broke away and established close ties with Moscow.

The Russian defence ministry did not say how many extra soldiers were being sent, but said that 15 new observation posts would be set up on the front line in Abkhazia.

Around 2,000 Russians serve there and a further 1,000 in South Ossetia.

As the rhetoric escalated, Appathurai said that neither Russia nor Georgia had informed the military alliance of any plans to actually move their forces, although he said Moscow could "technically" do so without notifying NATO.

But he said: "Have no doubt, everyone is watching very carefully what is happening on the ground."

Bakradze said that a UN mission monitoring Georgia and Abkhazia, UNOMIG, "verifies everything" in terms of his country's military deployments.

"If there is something on our side, it will immediately be known," he said, adding: "We're not going to move troops."

In a statement on April 21, UNOMIG said that its monitors "did not observe anything to substantiate reports of a build-up of forces on either side."

Appathurai said that Russian and NATO ambassadors, in a regular meeting Wednesday, had "a clear and sometimes sharp exchange of views but certainly no meeting of minds" over the region.

The ambassadors, in their so-called North Atlantic Council, will travel to Georgia in "coming months" in a show of support for the would-be member, officials have said.