Georgia downgrades ties with Russia
Georgia yesterday announced it was downgrading its relations with Russia as Tbilisi vowed to wage a diplomatic offensive against Moscow over its recognition of two rebel regions.
Foreign Minister Eka Tkeshelashvili told AFP that Tbilisi was pulling all but two of its diplomats from its embassy in Moscow and was seeking Western support for a range of measures against Russia.
"We have downgraded the level of our diplomatic relations with Russia," she told AFP in an interview.
"We will not have an ambassador to Moscow any more, only one senior diplomat and one low-ranking diplomat will be working in our embassy to the Russian Federation."
She warned that the situation would remain under review.
Georgia had already recalled its ambassador from Moscow in April, following a decision by Russia to establish formal ties with rebel governments in the separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
She said Georgia would seek to boost ties with NATO and the EU, and would call for an international peacekeeping force in Georgia.
Parliament is also preparing an "Occupation Act" that will formally declare Georgian territories under Russian control as occupied, Shota Malashkhia, the chairman of parliament's reintegration committee, told Georgian Public Television.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in a televised address Tuesday that he had signed a decree recognising South Ossetia -- the catalyst for this month's five-day military conflict with Georgia -- and Abkhazia.
In a televised address to the nation Tuesday, Saakashvili described the move as "the first attempt in Europe after Nazi Germany and the Stalinist Soviet Union... to change the borders of Europe by force."
Saakashvili accused Russia of seeking to "break the Georgian state, undermine the fundamental values of Georgia and to wipe Georgia from the map."
Russia's recognition of the rebel regions prompted immediate censure from the United States, which has been a strong supporter of Saakashvili, and its allies.
Russia on Wednesday warned NATO against building up naval forces in the Black Sea as the US Coast Guard cutter Dallas docked in Georgia carrying aid, one of three ships sent by Washington to deliver relief supplies.
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