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Georgia severs diplomatic ties with Russia
Georgia on Friday said it had severed diplomatic ties with Moscow, in protest over the presence of Russian troops on its territory. Russia criticised the move, pinning blame for a breakdown in relations on Tbilisi.
- AP
- Published: 09:06 August 30, 2008
Tbilisi: Georgia on Friday said it had severed diplomatic ties with Moscow, in protest over the presence of Russian troops on its territory. Russia criticised the move, pinning blame for a breakdown in relations on Tbilisi.
Georgia's remaining diplomats in Russia will leave Moscow on Saturday, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Nato Chikovani said.
Lawmakers had voted unanimously late on Thursday to break off ties with Russia, branding it an "aggressor country" in their conflict over two Russian-backed separatist regions in Georgia.
Russia criticised the decision. The ITAR-Tass news agency quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko as saying, "Breaking off diplomatic relations with Tbilisi is not Moscow's choice, and the responsibility lies with Tbilisi."
Russia will have to close its embassy in Georgia, the RIA-Novosti agency quoted an unnamed ministry official as saying. However, both nations' consulates will remain open.
Adding to the tension, a lawmaker in South Ossetia said on Friday that Russia intends to eventually absorb the breakaway province at the centre of the war that broke out on August 7 when Georgia sent troops into South Ossetia to wrest back control from separatists, prompting Russia to send in hundreds of tanks and troops.
The five days of warfare ruined already frayed Georgian-Russian ties and caused the biggest crisis in Moscow's relations with the West since the 1991 Soviet collapse.
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