NATO Demands Russia Withdraw From Georgia
Posted on: Tuesday, 19 August 2008, 15:00 CDT
NAT0 leaders called Tuesday for Russian troops to fulfill their agreement and get out of Georgia.
In an emergency meeting, NATO foreign ministers said they "cannot continue business as usual" with Russia, which they say has not lived up to a European Union brokered peace pact, Deutsche Welle reported Tuesday.
"We have determined that we cannot continue with business as usual," said a joint statement from 26 NATO foreign ministers. "We call on Russia to demonstrate -- both in word and deed -- its continued commitment to the principles upon which we agreed to base our relationship."
Even stronger actions are being urged by former Soviet-bloc nations such as Lithuania. Foreign minister Petras Vaitiekunas called for possible EU diplomatic sanctions against Russia, as well as accelerating Georgia and Ukraine's integration into the EU and NATO in response to "muscle-flexing" by Moscow.
"This aggression has damaged the EU-Russian partnership," the Lithuanian minister said in an interview with the EUobserver Tuesday.
Other European nations including Germany, France and Italy have refused to strongly condemn and potentially isolate Russia. But former communist nations such as Lithuania have reacted more quickly after Russia's slow withdrawal from Georgian territory, the report said.
Source: United Press International
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