Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Friday his country expects Georgia to give its written consent to the principles for settling the conflict between Georgia and its breakaway region of South Ossetia, the Interfax news agency reported.
"Now these principles should be accepted by Georgia and need to be followed, with guarantees from Russia, the Council of Europe, and the OSCE (the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe). I hope this will happen in the near future. We expect relevant information," Medvedev was quoted by Interfax as saying.
At a press conference after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Sochi, the Russian president expressed doubt that Abkhazia and South Ossetia could remain in the same state with Georgia after recent events.
He added that Russia will respect any decision on the two breakaway republics' statuses that reflects their wishes and will guarantee its enforcement.
Merkel, for her part, said Georgia's territorial integrity is a key point in the settlement of the conflict.
"We cannot wait another 15 years to find a stable solution for settling this conflict. Georgia's territorial integrity should be the basis of it," she said.
The German leader said Russia used disproportionate military force in the conflict between Georgia and South Ossetia and insisted that Russia pull its forces out of Georgia as soon as possible.
In addition, Medvedev said the deployment of the missile shield in Central Europe is targeted against Russia, but Moscow is ready to continue talks with all interested parties.
The United States and Poland struck a deal Thursday to deploy parts of the U.S. global missile shield in Poland after Washington agreed to improve the European nation's air defenses.
"The deployment of the new missile defense forces in Europe is aimed at Russia. So, fairy tales about deterring some rogue states with the help of these facilities do not work," Medvedev said, describing the move as sad for Europe, but not dramatic.
Merkel expressed hope that the missile defense deal signed between the United States and Poland will not put an end to the talks among Russia, the European Union and the United States on the issue.
The U.S.-Polish deal "is not aimed at Russia, but is in line with the plan to build a missile defense system that will protect from nations such as Iran," she said.
"We will continue to call for such talks to be continued. We will try to convince Russia of this, and in a certain sense to involve it in this process," Merkel said.
Source: Xinhua
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