Moscow - Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned Russia would
not fail to react to NATO expansion eastward even as leaders of the
alliance met in Bucharest to consider membership for Georgia and
Ukraine on Wednesday.
Lavrov dubbed transatlantic alliance a 'spoiled child' calling its
further expansion eastward 'artificial' and 'absolutely unnecessary,'
news agency Interfax reported.
NATO expansion 'will not be left without an answer,' Lavrov said.
'I assure you we are now readying various scripts to respond to the
succession of events,' he told lawmakers at Russia's Duma Wednesday.
Among possible scenarios, Lavrov said the foreign ministry was
'carefully considering' a parliamentary resolution calling for
Moscow's recognition of Georgia's two separatist regions, if it
joined NATO.
The Russian Duma voted unanimously supported a resolution to speed
forth recognition of the separatist regions of Abkhazia and South
Ossetia, amping tensions ahead of Wednesday's NATO summit to consider
the Caucasus state for membership track.
'I assure you, most carefully studied will be given to the State
Duma's request for expedient recognition of Abkhazia and South
Ossetia,' news agency Interfax quoted Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
as saying.
He added that many recent factors would weigh in the decision,
citing 'Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence, which has
created precedent' and the 'inadmissibility of holding double
standards.'
The comments Wednesday highlighted questions surrounding Georgia's
territorial stability as it's candidacy is under review at the summit
of NATO leaders in Bucharest where Putin is also in attendance.
Threat of civil war in the Caucasus state have been foremost among
Russia's vehement objection to Georgia's inclusion in NATO, which it
views as the encroachment of a foreign military block along its
borders.
Russia has long provided financial aid to Georgia's separatist
regions and offered citizenship to many of the residents, but the
post-Soviet state enjoys US-led support for its territorial
integrity.
Speaking at the Duma on Wednesday, Lavrov called on Georgia to
sign a cease fire and pull out its troops out of the Kodori gorge, a
contested area along the internal border with Abkhazia.
'In answer, unfortunately, we more often than anything here
anti-Russian rhetoric from Tbilsi,' he said.
USA
Your Talkback on this Story