There will be no negotiations between Russia and Georgia before Georgian forces return to their positions prior to the conflict in South Ossetia, said Russian ambassador to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, on Saturday.
"They must retreat to the place where they were before they started this aggression; they must retreat to where they were three days ago," Rogozin told reporters in his residence in a Brussels suburb.
Otherwise, there will be no contacts and consultations, he said.
"Before diplomats can sit around the table, there must be preconditions -- some military ones," he said.
Rogozin accused Georgian authorities of ethnic cleansing in the breakaway region, where the overwhelming majority of residents are Ossetians, many of whom hold Russian passports.
Rogozin said Georgian forces also killed 15 Russian peacekeepers in the region and wounded more than 70 others. Some of the peacekeepers were killed after being captured wounded, he said. The claim cannot be independently confirmed.
"We are just shocked by the cruelty shown by (Georgian President Mikheil) Saakashvili's military," he said.
Saakashvili must be held responsible for the massacres and he will be brought to justice at the end of the day, said the ambassador.
Rogozin showed no respect for Saakashvili, calling him a liar, a "political baby" and comparing him to Adolf Hitler in the sense that both men were superstitious.
"He has become a politician with whom one cannot shake hands," said Rogozin.
Rogozin indicated that Saakashvili deliberately chose the date of military action in South Ossetia. He started operations on the day when the Beijing Olympic Games were opened, hoping that there would not be huge international repercussions, he explained.
August is also a month when most Western politicians are on holiday, he added.
Rogozin, who himself used to be a journalist, said Aug. 8 was a Friday, followed by two days when there would be very few newspapers.
"So the timing for aggression was not chosen off-hand," he said.
Rogozin defended his country's military action in South Ossetia.
In face of the Georgian military action, Russian leadership took a decision of "peace enforcement" and sent in law enforcement units to protect civilians and Russian peacekeepers.
"Our actions are limited in time, scope and purpose," said Rogozin, arguing that Russia does not conduct military action against Tbilisi or regions outside the conflict zone.
"We are fully aware of the restraints imposed by international law and we will follow them," he said.
He said Russian troops have recaptured Tskhinvali, the capital city of South Ossetia and is doing humanitarian work in the field. Russia is hosting 30,000 refugees, he said. The information cannot be independently confirmed.
Rogozin almost ruled out a new international peacekeeping force in the region. "There is no country that can send its peacekeepers to the region where the peacekeepers are subject to direct tank fire," he said.
Rogozin dismissed Saakashvili's declaration of state of war in Georgia, saying no one should take Saakashvili seriously. "I think he cannot understand what it means to be in war with Russia," said Rogozin. He said Russia does not consider itself in state of war.
He called on the West to keep their hands off the conflict, arguing that Saakashvili's aim is to drag international organizations into the civil war in Georgia.
South Ossetia declared independence from Georgia in the early 1990s. Since then it was governed by a secessionist government although its independence has not been internationally recognized.
On Friday, Georgian troops began military action against South Ossetia's forces in an attempt to re-establish control over the region. In response Russian troops moved into the region to fight the Georgian forces and its warplanes bombed the region.
Russia said the two-day conflict has killed 1,500 people and that the death toll is expected to rise.
Source: Xinhua
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