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Russia slams G7 'bias' over Georgia conflict
Russia on Friday accused the G7 powers of bias over the Georgia conflict after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said the United States had orchestrated the hostilities.
- Agencies
- Published: 17:16 August 29, 2008
- Putin said the US administration had a hand in the war that erupted after Georgian forces tried to take back control of South Ossetia.
- Image Credit: Gulf News Archive
Moscow: Russia on Friday accused the G7 powers of bias over the Georgia conflict after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said the United States had orchestrated the hostilities.
Russia said in a statement that the G7 was "biased" and seeking to "justify Georgian acts of aggression" when it condemned Moscow's recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states.
Russia has faced an avalanche of criticism from the West after the five day war and its formal recognition of South Ossetia and another breakaway region, Abkhazia, as independent states.
The G7 had called on Russia to "implement in full" a French-brokered peace plan and pull all forces out of Georgia.
Russia's foreign ministry said the G7's condemnation "is biased in character and is aimed at justifying Georgian acts of aggression". Russia maintains it has completed a troop withdrawal from inside Georgia, in line with the accord, and that remaining troops are in a "peacekeeping" mission.
After recognising South Ossetia, Russia will sign an agreement "on inter-state cooperation and the setting up of Russian military bases on the territory of South Ossetia," said the region's deputy speaker, Tarzan Kokoity, quoted by Interfax news agency. The signing will take place on Tuesday, a day after European Union leaders hold an emergency summit over the Georgia conflict.
Putin said the US administration had a hand in the war that erupted after Georgian forces tried to take back control of South Ossetia, and drew a link with the US presidential campaign.
There were Americans in the conflict zone "doing as they were ordered, and the only one who can give such orders is their leader," he said.
The powerful former Kremlin leader said he suspected that "someone in the US specially created this conflict to worsen the situation and create an advantage in the competitive struggle for one of the candidates for the post of president of the United States."
The White House dismissed the accusations as "patently false".
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