December 13th 2008
EU Confronts Bear In Perevi
T
he Bear is back. The Georgian village of Perevi on the western border of South Ossetia was for one brief day once again under Georgian control – as it should be – until earlier today, when hundreds of Russian soldiers occupied it. Says AFP:
Interior ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said from 500 to 600 Russian soldiers moved into Perevi early Saturday in what he described as a “military operation” involving paratroopers, helicopters and armoured vehicles.
Georgia and EU monitors had announced Friday that Russian forces were withdrawing from Perevi, a mainly ethnic Georgian village of about 1,100 people on the western border of South Ossetia, which had been under Russian control since a five-day war in August.
Georgian police had moved into the village on Friday after Russian forces withdrew. About 20 Russian soldiers returned late Friday and Georgian police were forced out when the large contingent of troops arrived, Utiashvili said.
“They presented Georgian police with an ultimatum: get out or we will shoot,” he said.
The Russians have refused the requests of EU ambassadors in the region to visit Perevi, and the EU has called the Russians provocation a breech of the EU-negotiated ceasefire and demanded called on the Russians to pull back to the South Ossetia border.
Interesting confrontation, eh? The EU – which as you recall is also negotiating with the even more trouble-making Iranian regime – has made a major commitment here, brokering a cease-fire, monitoring it, and calling on Russia to pay attention to their calls to play by the rules, saying the old Bear’s actions are “unacceptable under all relevant instruments of international law.”
So far, no word from Moscow. It’s winter and their gas pipeline is keeping Europe toasty, so they’ll take their time deciding what to do about the self-emasculated pipsqueaksfrom Western Europe.
Leave a Reply
[The "Comment Box" is WYSIWYG except that you have to double space between paragraphs!
Type it the way you want it to look -- Just remember to double up those line spaces.]
You must be logged in to post a comment.
