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| REACTIONS TO THE CAUCASUS CRISIS 28/08/2008 |
| (2008-08-28) |
| Last updated: 2008-08-29 16:14 EET |
“We are in the middle of a cold war”, said former German foreign minister Hans Dietrich Genscher, commenting on the Georgian crisis. As one of the masterminds of the dismantling of the Iron Curtain at the end of the 80s, Genscher is in a very good position to provide a view of relations between Moscow and the West. The invasion of Georgia by Russia and the recognition of the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia are perceived by Western governments and experts as punitive measures against the pro-Western government in Tbilisi, which dared to request admission into NATO.
NATO has, in fact, harshly criticized Russian policy in the Caucasus region. Bernard Kouchner, foreign minister of the country that holds the EU rotating presidency, France, expressed fear that other ex-Soviet states may be next on the list after Georgia, countries such as Ukraine or the Republic of Moldova, that have their own separatist issues with Crimea or Transdniestr. American analyst Ariel Cohen said in an interview on the Romanian daily Adevarul that “the attack against Georgia is more dangerous than the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan”. He is convinced that Russia wants to depose the pro-Western Georgian leader Mihail Saakaşvili, and to put in his place a pro-Russian one.
On the other hand, Cohen warns, Western reactions to the revival of Soviet imperial practices will be on a par. He said that the Kremlin should understand that their actions can result in their being barred from the G8 and in the reversal of the decision to hold the 2014 Olympics in Soci. The daily Curentul quotes British foreign secretary David Milliband (whose country has had some very rough diplomatic dealings with Russia) as saying the West is building the widest coalition against Russia.
Reacting to an avalanche of criticism, the new leader in the Kremlin, Dmitri Medvedev, sent a letter to his Western counterparts, claiming that recognizing independence for South Ossetia and Abkhazia was the only possible way to go. He also claimed that he was speaking with the voice of the people, saying, quote, this position was supported by a very wide majority of our citizens. In a similar fashion, Russian ambassador to Bucharest, Alexandr Ciurilin, sent an open letter to the Romanian press, accusing it of failing to understand who bears responsibility for the crisis in the southern Caucasus. With two or three exceptions, the Romanian press ignored the letter.
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