EU/Russia/Georgia

EU holds emergency summit

Article published on the 2008-09-01 Latest update 2008-09-01 13:37 TU

Russian president Dmitri Medvedev, Sochi, 31 August
(Photo: AFP)

The European Union is meeting in Brussels today to discuss the Georgian crisis and the response it should take. Meanwhile, Georgians are holding mass rallies to condemn Russia's actions. Russian troops launched an offensive on Georgia on 8 August after Georgian forces tried to take back control of secessionist South Ossetia.

France, which holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, called the emergency summit to decide on a common position. France has ruled out the possibility of sanctions against Russia, but EU leaders could decide to freeze negotiations on a new strategic partnership pact.

Russia is standing firm in the face of any hostile moves. President Dmitri Medvedev warned on Sunday that Russia would hit back against any sanctions.  "If needed, we also can adopt such special laws", he said. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said that Russia would honor its contracts for gas and petroleum exports with Europe but would diversify its clients. Russia furnishes about one-quarter of Europe's gas supplies.

French Prime Minister François Fillon said on Monday that President Nicolas Sarkozy is ready to return to Moscow and Tbilisi with proposals to resolve the conflict.

These measures aren't intended to bring Russia to it’s knees, Andrew Stroehlein of the International Crisis Group told RFI. Europe wants to simply send a message, he said, "they cannot be occupying parts of Georgian territory.”

Russia has drawn a parallel between Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence and the demands of the Georgian breakaway provinces. Stroehlein says that this comparison is "absurd."

“The timespan between the international intervention in Kosovo and the international recognition of Kosovo … that took almost a decade. Russia collapsed that entire process from intervention to recognition to a couple of weeks," Stroehlein said from Brussels.

As EU leaders meet in Brussels, thousands of people protested today in Georgia against Russia's action following a call from Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili on Sunday for a big demonstration for national unity. Tens of thousands of demonstrators turned out in the capital Tblissi and in other cities, such as in the western port city of Poti, where 15,000 protesters formed a human chain from the city centre to Russian military checkpoints on the outskirts, according to Georgian TV.  

Small demonstrations in support of Georgian territorial unity were also held in London and in Athens.