EU sluit vredesoperatie in Georgië uit (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Commission gave Russia an unusually sharp rebuke over its expulsion of ethnic-Georgians and support for separatists in Moldova at a debate in the European Parliament on Wednesday (25 October) - but the Finnish presidency made clear the EU will not send peacekeepers to Georgia.

"We are particularly worried by the expulsion of large numbers of Georgians from Russian territory, which appears to be in direct contradiction to Russia's commitment to the European convention on human rights," external relations commissioner Benita-Ferrero Waldner told MEPs after meeting Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow this week.

"We have been concerned by Russia's support for [Moldovan separatists in] Transdniestria," she added. "I think this could complicate finding a solution for this conflict. Russia's insistence on a 'transit protocol' for Transdniestria, which would effectively recognise Transdniestria as a trading entity, is the stumbling block [in peace talks]."

The EU is formally involved in Moldova conflict resolution talks under the so-called "5+2" multilateral format and operates an anti-smuggling mission on the Transdniestria-Ukraine border, but has only observer status in UN-sponsored Georgia talks and no border-monitoring or peacekeeping force in the country.

Transdniestria tore away from Moldova at the same time as South Ossetia and another Georgian region - Abkhazia - split from Georgia, in the early 1990s in a rash of unrelated conflicts, which saw thousands of Russian "peacekeeping" troops stationed in the territories until the present day.

Violent skirmishes between separatists and Georgian forces have escalated in South Ossetia and Abkhazia in the past two months, with Georgia's military spending going through the roof and with Russia last Friday warning the EU that the region could see a "bloodbath" if Tbilisi attempts a military solution to the separatist problem.

No EU involvement

Georgia also clashed with Russia in early October over the arrest of four Russian "spies." Tbilisi says Moscow is trying to topple its pro-EU and pro-NATO government by arming and funding the Abkhaz and Ossetian rebels and is calling for a formal EU role in multilateral talks and EU troops on the ground.

But the Finnish EU presidency on Wednesday gave the clearest signal yet that Europe is not willing to get too deeply involved in Georgia however, with Helsinki's European affairs minister Paula Lehtomaki saying "I believe Georgia may have unrealistic expectations of the EU."

The Finnish politician praised the "good offices" of the EU's informal diplomatic efforts in the South Caucasus and put weight on Georgia to "commit itself" to non-use of force. "If the parties there do not want a peaceful resolution, then it cannot be imposed from outside," Ms Lehtomaki stated.

MEPs to call for EU peacekeepers

The parliament debate comes in the context of Thursday's vote on an MEPs' resolutions censuring Russia for seeking to maintain a "sphere of influence" over Moldova and Georgia in a throwback to Cold War times and calling for UN and EU forces to take over peacekeeping in South Ossetia.

The pre-vote discussion saw EU-Russia relations heavyweights such as former Lithuanian president and conservative MEP Vytautis Landbsergis and Dutch socialist Jan Marinus Wiersma as well as most other members backing the resolutions, with Austrian socialist MEP Hannes Swoboda among the few voices critical of Georgia's aggressive stance.

Referring to Russia's promises in the late 1990s to pull troops out of Moldova and Georgia, Mr Landbsergis said the EU should publish "a book on Russia's unfulfilled international commitments" and criticised Brussels for "chanting empty mantras" on Russia's policy of partitioning neighbour states while "washing its hands" of real intervention.

"We should have EU peacekeepers in South Ossetia and Abkhazia," he said. "Otherwise the EU should start referring more truthfully to the Russian peacekeeping forces as keepers of official criminality."