August 15, 2008

Bocharov Ruchei, Sochi Printer-friendly version

At a joint press-conference Dmitry Medvedev said in part:

We discussed the most current events and above all the tragic consequences of Georgia’s aggression against peacekeepers and civilians in South Ossetia.

You know that these acts have caused numerous victims and led to floods of refugees, large-scale damage and other serious consequences that can only be called a humanitarian disaster.

The Georgian leadership bears full responsibility for these illegal and ruthless actions. All of the many diplomatic efforts and talks in different formats, successful and unsuccessful, over these last 15 years were undone in a matter of hours by these acts of force. It gives the impression that Mr Saakashvili was simply sick and tired of diplomatic efforts and decided to solve all the problems and remove the obstacle of the Ossetians in one clean blow. This is why the operation was named accordingly “Clear Field”.

As you know, we responded with a number of measures to put an end to these actions. Russia remains the one force in this situation that can protect the civilian population and the Russian citizens living there. We took appropriate measures based on our right to self-defence in accordance with Article 51 of the UN Charter.

Security has been restored and Russia’s peacekeepers remain the guarantors of this security in the Caucasus. Unfortunately, there are still a number of difficulties, but nonetheless, we and President of France Nicholas Sarkozy agreed on a set of basic principles for resolving the conflict and we think they provide a necessary and sufficient base for achieving a settlement. It now remains for Georgia to give its agreement to these principles, which must then be enforced under guarantees from Russia, the Council of Europe and the OSCE. I hope that this will all happen very soon. We are waiting for confirmation.

We also talked about the need for an objective evaluation by the international community of the tragic events that took place in South Ossetia. I stress that this must be an objective and not one-sided evaluation, not biased one way or the other.

But even more important now is to provide full support for the people affected by this humanitarian disaster. We need to ensure their security, give them medical assistance and rebuild the infrastructure that was destroyed. This is the task we need to concentrate on now.

I said yesterday and repeat now that peace in the region needs to be restored and guaranteed so that no one is tempted by such idiotic ideas again. I think that this is the Russian Federation’s primary task today.

Nobody is rejecting the principle of territorial integrity as one of the fundamental principles of international law. The question is one of a specific situation in a specific country. This is where the main difficulties start.

Unfortunately, after what has happened, the Ossetians and Abkhazians are unlikely to be able to live in one state with the Georgians, or some kind of titanic efforts would have to be made to resolve the conflict. But as I said at my meeting with Mr Sarkozy and also during my meeting yesterday with the leaders of the unrecognised territorial entities – South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and again during my meeting with Mrs Merkel, as the guarantor of security in the Caucasus and in the region, Russia will accept the decision that reflects the clear will of these two Caucasian peoples and will use it as the guideline in its foreign policy and guarantee its enforcement in South Ossetia and Abkhazia in accordance with the peacekeeping mandate that we have.

As far as peacekeepers are concerned, of course we are not opposed to having international peacekeepers there. It is not our position on the matter that is the issue. We are carrying out our share of the responsibilities for ensuring security in this very complex region. But the issue is that the Ossetians and Abkhazians themselves trust only the Russian peacekeepers because the events of the last 15 years have shown them that the Russian peacekeepers are the only force able to protect their interests and often their very lives. This is why they see the Russian troops as the only guarantee of their security, and this is something that also has to be taken into account.

I can give you an example from a recent and also very complicated case, that of Kosovo, when Kosovo rejected the participation of peacekeepers under UN mandate and asked for peacekeeper units formed on the basis of a special European Union mandate, and this request of theirs was met. I do not intend to go into an assessment of the situation there, but at the very least, people who face oppression, pressure or genocide have to feel comfortable with the force charged with bringing peace and tranquillity to country.

We will therefore discuss these questions of course, and we have already begun discussing the presence of international observers in one form or another, including through taking the additional security measures provided for in the fifth principle agreed on with the French President. This process will continue, but I wanted to draw your attention to the fact that in this situation the position of the people affected, the people who have been subjected to violence and aggression remains paramount.

Of course we do not want any worsening in relations, either long term or short term. On the contrary, we want full-fledged development of relations with the European Union and with individual European countries, and also with the United States of America and other countries.

We live in a very fragile world and it is very clear that a global worsening in the international situation only plays into the hands of the most reactionary forces. You would have to be blind and unaware of what is going on not to understand this. Our position is that common sense must prevail and that our partners need to be very clear and aware about what has happened and what the consequences are, and not look for a single guilty party and all the more so not lay all the blame on the Russian Federation, but do everything possible to minimise the consequences of these tragic events.

For our part, we are ready to work with everyone openly and in goodwill, and we do not want to damage our relations with anyone. But at the same time, we will continue to carry out our peacekeeping mandate, and if anyone continues to attack our citizens and our peacekeepers, of course we will respond just as we responded on this occasion, and there should be no doubt about this.

This decision [on deploying elements of the U.S. missile defence system on Polish territory] demonstrates very clearly what we have been talking about of late, that the deployment of new missile defence systems in Europe is directed against the Russian Federation. The moment has been chosen accordingly. The stories about this all being to deter rogue states do not hold water.

What has taken place is clear and there is nothing I can comment on. This is sad for Europe, sad for everyone living on this densely populated continent, but it is not dramatic. We will continue to work on this matter and we are ready to discuss all of these issues with everyone involved. But the latest decision has done nothing to calm the situation, of course.

You know that the tragedy that took place had us all glued to the TV screens and to other media sources and the Internet. I, like any ordinary person, also got some of my information from the media, as well as from the channels I have as President. The information picture that emerged leads me to ask three questions I would like you to reflect on.

First, who started the military operations in South Ossetia? Was it the peacekeepers, the Russian troops, or was it the Georgian army? If you look at what is shown on television the answer is not clear, but we know the answer to this question.

Second, did the international community want this aggression to have an outcome that would have meant the end to the existence of Ossetians in South Ossetia and Abkhazians in Abkhazia? Yes or no?

And third, do we consider what happened to be a humanitarian disaster, yes or no? Or is this solely the affair of the Ossetians themselves and the Russian Federation?

If we answer these questions for ourselves a lot will become much clearer.

The full transcript of the press conference will be published.

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