PARIS (AFP)--Georgia said Saturday that it regretted a call by French President Nicolas Sarkozy for the European Union to resume talks with Russia at a time when it claims Moscow was failing to respect commitments.
"I do believe myself that perhaps it is not the right moment to do that, right now Russia is in flagrant violation of the ceasefire agreement," Georgian Foreign Minister Eka Tkechelachvili told reporters in Paris.
"And to be frank I don't really understand yesterday some of the statements made in Brussels by President Sarkozy, saying that the ceasefire agreement is implemented by Russia, so that there is no problem in renewing negotiations. We can frankly say that it is not implemented."
On Friday Sarkozy told an E.U. summit in Brussels that negotiations with Russia, suspended in September to put pressure on the Russian army to pull out of Georgia after its conflict with Tbilisi over the breakaway region of South Ossetia, should resume.
In the face of objections from Lithuania and Poland, Sarkozy said that Moscow had globally fulfilled its undertakings.
"By the way, the decision of the European Council of Sept. 1 [to suspend talks] clearly says that talks will not be renewed until Russia withdraws to the [prewar] lines of Aug. 7 in terms of military presence," Tkechelachvili said.
"Russia is not withdrawing from any point from which it has to withdraw," she said, citing the Kodori Gorge in Abkhazia and the disputed Akhalgori district in southeastern South Ossetia.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 08, 2008 13:51 ET (18:51 GMT)

Publié le 08 novembre 2008 Copyright © 2008 Dowjones