Russia urges countries not to supply Georgia with weapons
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Russia's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday called on countries to refrain from providing weapons to Georgia.
"We continue to insist on imposing a comprehensive international embargo on supplying Georgia primarily with offensive weapons and military hardware," Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said in a statement.
The measure was aimed at reducing the risk of recurrent Georgian aggression, said Karasin, noting that some coountries were trying to involve Georgia in international operations under different pretexts.
"Even someone who is not much into the nuances of politics in the South Caucasus can see that the Saakashvili regime has not learned virtually any lessons from the events that happened two years ago," he said.
Russia and Georgia fought a five-day war in August 2008, when Georgia used military force to retake South Ossetia, a breakaway Georgian republic that borders Russia. In response, Moscow sent in troops to drive Georgian forces out of the region.
Russia recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states on Aug. 26, 2008, two weeks after the conflict ended.
Georgia and the West have condemned Russia's plans for a military presence in Abkhazia, which they consider is sovereign Georgian land.
Russia accepted Georgia as a part of its empire in 1783 following a petition of a Georgian king who sought Russia's military protection against Turkey. In 1991, Tbilisi proclaimed its independence from Moscow.
