Eddie Huntington Cvrcko
VIENNA, Austria - Russian forces and their separatist militia allies
are keeping international monitors out of South Ossetia, according to
confidential OSCE documents that cast doubts on hopes for a lasting
resolution of the war over the breakaway region.
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The documents obtained Friday by The Associated Press say Russian
troops stopped some observers from entering South Ossetia as recently
as two days ago. Other Western diplomats warned that Moscow is also
blocking attempts to quadruple the size of the observer mission.
One diplomat said talks aimed at securing Russian permission to let
the observers move beyond Georgia and have access to South Ossetia and
Abkhazia are deadlocked by Russia's refusal to grant unimpeded access
to the volatile area to monitors with the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe.
The European Union has been racing to prepare a separate mission of
200 unarmed observers for Georgia by Oct. 1.
Under an agreement brokered this week by French leader Nicolas
Sarkozy, Russia would withdraw its forces from Georgian areas outside
of South Ossetia and the separatist Abkhazia region after the EU
observers are in place.
The Kremlin's actions at the OSCE "throw into question the sincerity"
of Moscow's overall commitment to allow in international monitors and
pull back, the senior diplomat said Friday.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Igor Frolov answered reporters'
questions by saying the cease-fire agreement brokered by French leader
Nicolas Sarkozy said nothing about increasing the number of OSCE
observers.
The permanent council of the 56-nation OSCE, which includes Russia,
agreed Aug. 19 to boost the number of monitors to 100 to implement the
Aug. 12 cease-fire.
But in recent days Moscow appears to have been pulling back.
"Russia has gotten more and more hard-line," said the diplomat, who
has been intimately involved in three weeks of negotiations. He spoke
on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly
discuss the talks.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Friday the war was a moment as
defining for Russia as the Sept. 11, attacks were for the U.S. He also
warned that Russia would protect its interests in other ex-Soviet
lands irrespective of Western opinion.
Martin Nesirky, a spokesman for the Vienna-based OSCE, said efforts to
reach agreement over the movements of current and future monitors
remained under way.
"No one is suggesting that these talks are easy but they have not
collapsed," he said.
Diplomats, however, said delegates walked out in frustration after
Russia rejected a compromise that would have sent the additional
monitors initially to areas outside South Ossetia, while not
precluding them from entering later.
The OSCE has 28 monitors in the area, but has been trying to send in
80 more to observe military movements since Russia invaded Georgia
last month after Georgia attacked South Ossetia.
One document issued Thursday and obtained by the AP said all 28
observers "continue to encounter difficulties in their movement to
most of the areas of their deployment."
"They are denied access to South Ossetia by the Russian Armed Forces
deployed in the southern part of the area," it said. The same report
also said that South Ossetian forces had refused to let them cross the
border into a district they had been allowed to visit in the past.
Russia recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent nations
after last month's war with Georgia over the regions.
A popular former ally of Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili on
Friday questioned the wisdom of last month's war with Russia, calling
for a national "conversation" about whether the conflict could have
been avoided. Former parliament speaker Nino Burdzhanadze's remarks
echoed widespread feelings among Georgians about the war.
An estimated 192,000 people were uprooted in the August fighting, but
68,000 are already back home, the U.N. refugee agency said Friday. The
U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees revised its figure upward from
158,000 people it previously said were displaced.
A U.S. Defense Department team was expected to embark Friday on a
delicate mission to determine Georgia's military needs after its war
with Russia, a show of support that is certain to stoke Moscow's
anger.
NATO's leader said he will send a delegation to Georgia next week to
show the alliance's support after Russia used "disproportionate force"
in attacking the small country.