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On Georgia, As Sarkozy Drafts Sloppily, the
World Catches a
Cold War
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS, August 19 -- The
rift on
Georgia at the UN Security Council traces back, as it happens, to
French President Nicolas Sarkozy. He traveled to Moscow, as part of
France's
European Union presidency, and came up with a six point plan agreed to
by
Russia's Dmitry Medvedev. The sixth point concerned future negotiations
of the
status and lasting security of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Georgia's
two
breakaway regions. Russia, then as now, latched onto the sixth point,
as it
hearkens to the status talks about Kosovo that resulted in that
region's
declaration of independence from Serbia.
After France on Tuesday
introduced a draft
Security Council resolution which despite Russia's requests did not
include
Sarkozy's six points, certainly not the sixth, Inner City Press asked
France's
Deputy Permanent Representative Jean-Pierre Lacroix if his country or
president
had envisioned the talks on the future of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as
including on the table independence, a la Kosovo. We are committed to
Georgia's
territorial integrity, Ambassador Lacroix answered. One wag at the
stakeout
snarked, "That's not what Sarkozy said, or got, in Moscow."
Ban Ki-moon and Nicolas Sarkozy - the father of two new countries?
Afterwards, Inner City Press asked Russian
Ambassador Vitaly Churkin if
his country interprets Principle Sixth as allowing for the full
breakaway of
Abkhazia and South Ossetia from Georgia. Yes, he said, and then
narrated the
history of the clause. Sarkozy in Moscow
agreed with Medvedev to include the word "status" in Principle Six.
Then Sarkozy went to Tblisi, where according to Churkin he met with
Georgian
President Saakashvili and "his American advisors." After that
meeting, Sarkozy called Medvedev and asked to "shorten" Principle
Six. Churkin said Medvedev agreed, because with the phrasing "lasting
security," independence was still on the table in Russia's reading.
Now, however, France is trying to impose its
interpretation on the
phrase, as not inconsistent with territorial integrity, ignoring
Russia's
statement that Sarkozy had agreed to the inclusion of the word
"status" in Principle Six.
Churkin also expressed
frustration that Sarkozy had earlier on Tuesday called Medvedev,
without
mentioning that his mission to the UN would be introducing a draft
resolution
without the six points in it. Churkin guessed that the mid-day change
is
attributable "to Brussels," where a meeting of NATO foreign ministers
took place. He also said that prior to
Tuesday's meeting requests to participate were submitted by Abkhazia
and South
Ossetia and reminded that the U.S. had previously problematized visas
for
Abkhaz representatives to come to New York.
When we finally do the meeting on the big
resolution, Churkin said, if
there are problems with the visas, we can move the meeting to a
European
capital. See you in Geneva? Or Paris?
Watch
this
site. And this (on
South Ossetia), and
this --
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