French President Nicolas Sarkozy (left) and EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana plan to ask Russia not to recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Photo: AP
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A Plan for Sarkozy
// Russia will establish diplomatic relations with South Ossetia and Abkhazia after visit of EU mission
Medvedev and Sarkozy will discuss a settlement to the Georgian crisis
An EU mission headed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy will arrive in Moscow today to discuss a settlement to the crisis surrounding South Ossetia and Abkhazia with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Moscow expects a “road map” to settlement to result from the negotiations. Simultaneously, Russia is preparing to establish official diplomatic relations with the South Ossetia and Abkhazia tomorrow.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has renewed his intermediacy in the Russian-Georgian conflict. The French leader, who played the role of chief peacemaker at the height of the August war, arrives in Moscow again today to discuss a way out of the Georgian crisis and the fulfillment of the six points of the Medvedev-Sarkozy plan with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Notably, Sarkozy is not coming alone this time for talks with Russian leaders. He will be accompanied by EU representatives Jose Manuel Barroso, chairman of the European Commission, and Javier Solana, EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy. Kommersant has learned from a source in Brussels that the United States insisted on that makeup of the delegation, since it is not eager for the French president to remain the main peacemaker in the Caucasus.
Sarkozy, Barroso and Solana are to acquaint Russian authorities with the united position on the conflict in the Caucasus, as it was worked out at the EU summit meeting on September 1 and during the informal meeting of EU foreign ministers at Avignon at the end of last week. Before leaving for Moscow, Solana told Kommersant that main task of the negotiators was “to com to an agreement on the question of the full implementation of the six points of the August 12 agreement.” Europe now holds that Russia has not fully fulfilled its obligations under the plan, since its military remains in the Georgian city of Poti, far from the security zones in the Georgian-South Ossetian and Georgian-Abkhazian conflicts.
In additions, Solana will present Medvedev with EU proposals on the creation of an international observers group made up of 150-200 police from EU countries to be located first on the Georgian side and then to replace the Russian forces in the so-called buffer zone around South Ossetia. “The form of their presence still has to be discussed,” Solana told Kommersant. He said the mission could be carried out under the aegis of the OSCE, UN or as an independent commission. “But most of all it has to be agreed upon by Russia and Georgia,” he said.
Finally, the EU emissaries want to discuss the possibility of creating an international commission to investigate the recent conflict in South Ossetia “to expose the share of responsibility of the sides.” German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier made that proposal at the meeting in Avignon and it was enthusiastically supported.
On the whole, the ideas do not annoy. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made it clear last week at a meeting with Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht that Moscow is ready to discuss the presence of an international police force. “Russia considers it important that the OSCE also make the decision to create international police,” Lavrov said. “We are counting on the European Union to play a leading role in that question. International mechanisms should also include an agreement on a security zone procedure, to include its demilitarization.”
The loyal Russian position, after its previous adamant refusal to discuss internationalization of the conflict in the Caucasus, may be due to the fact that Russian representatives can also be included in international police contingent. In addition, Kommersant has learned, Russia intends to make its own proposals on that subject to the Europeans today.
“We will propose additions to the principles of the Medvedev-Sarkozy plan,” a high-placed source in the Russian Foreign Ministry told Kommersant. “We are talking about a sort of ‘roadmap’ to guaranteeing the stable security of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.” The elements of the road map to be revealed at the meeting between Sarkozy and Medvedev were said to be access to the conflict zone by OSCE military observers whose main task will be to control Georgian forces; development of issues of the placement of international police in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone and the conclusion of an agreement on the nonuse of force between South Ossetia and Georgia.
The last point is a matter of principle for Moscow. According to Lavrov, a document on the nonuse of force should be an “inherent part” of the security guarantees in the region. “We insisted on its signing last year, but the Saakashvili regime subsequently avoided it. And his Western friends didn’t want to make him do it,” Lavrov noted. The Russian side is counting on agreeing on a political statement on a settlement of the conflict and readiness to sign an agreement on the nonuse of force.
The EU representatives have more plans yet. They will try to convince Russia to reverse itself on recognizing the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. On Tuesday, Sarkozy will discuss the results of his Moscow negotiations with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. Moscow has a surprise planned for the Georgian President and the international community on the same day. Kommersant has learned that Russia will officially announce the establishment of diplomatic ties with Tskhinvali and Sukhumi. The subject was discussed at length all weekend, while South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity and his Abkhazian colleague Sergey Bagapsh were in Moscow on the pretext of taking part in City Day celebrations. “Consultations on it are underway. Our president and foreign minister are in Moscow now,” chairman of the government information and press committee of South Ossetia Irina Gagloeva told Kommersant. “They are even looking for an appropriate building to house the Russian embassy in Tskhinvali. There are three or four choices.” Gagloeva was unable to say exactly when diplomatic relations would be established. The Abkhazian Foreign Ministry told Kommersant that yesterday that it would be very soon. A high-placed source in the Abkhazian government said, “It will happen on Tuesday. There will be an exchange of the corresponding notes between Abkhazia and Russia. Then they will build an embassy.”
Vladimir Solovyev; Igor Sedykh, Avignon
All the Article in Russian as of Sep. 08, 2008
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