Security Council to meet on Georgia's call
The Security Council has scheduled a closed-door meeting tomorrow to discuss Georgia's call for the UN's most powerful body to address Russia's alleged "military aggression" against the breakaway region of Abkhazia.
By Agencies |
UNITED NATIONS: The Security Council has scheduled a closed-door meeting tomorrow to discuss Georgia's call for the UN's most powerful body to address Russia's alleged "military aggression" against the breakaway region of Abkhazia.
Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told the media after the council discussed Georgia's request for an emergency meeting on Monday afternoon that "we did not object to having a meeting and we'll have things to say at that meeting as well."
Georgian Foreign Minister David Bakradze is expected to attend the council meeting. Churkin said he reminded the council of the need to hear the views of the Abkhazian side as well, "and we will continue to work having them invited to speak to the council."
Tensions between the two countries have escalated over two breakaway regions in Georgia -- Abkhazia and South Ossetia which have close ties to Moscow and have been independently run since the early 1990s when fighting with Georgian troops ended.
Georgia claimed a Russian fighter jet shot down an unmanned Georgian spy plane Sunday as it flew over Abkhazia. Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his government to increase cooperation with the separatist authorities in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Moscow has granted Russian citizenship to the vast majority of the breakaway regions' residents, and recently lifted 12-year-old trade sanctions against Abkhazia. Russian officials have warned that Georgia will have to abandon its claims on the regions if it joins NATO.
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