In comments published yesterday, prime minister Brown called for a ‘root and branch’ review of the EU and NATO’s relations with Moscow to prevent further ‘Russian aggression’.
This was despite efforts by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to ease tensions with Europe in a phone conversation with Brown on Saturday.
Medvedev told the British premier that Russia wants to hold constructive talks with the EU and international groups on the Georgian crisis.
He said that Russia urged ‘unbiased international monitoring’ of the current Georgian leadership and was looking for ‘constructive dialogue with the EU and other international organisations.’
Medvedev insisted that Russia was ‘fully implementing’ the six-point French-brokered peace deal hammered out in mid-August between himself and French leader Nicolas Sarkozy.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said yesterday that ‘right is on our side’ in regard to the current crisis over Georgia.
Speaking on the Russian Vesti TV channel, Putin said: ‘Whatever they might say there, right is on our side,’ ahead of today’s European summit.
He added: ‘We are behaving in an absolutely moral way and in the framework of all existing international laws.
‘And so, if any of the European countries wish to serve someone else’s foreign interests – go ahead, we cannot insist otherwise.’
Writing in yesterday’s Observer newspaper, Brown said: ‘When Russia has a grievance over an issue such as South Ossetia, it should act multilaterally by consent rather than unilaterally by force.’
He added: ‘My message to Russia is simple. If you want to be welcome at the top table of organisations such as the G8, OECD and WTO, you must accept that with rights come responsibilities.
‘We want Russia to be a good partner in the G8 and other organisations, but it cannot pick and choose which rules to adhere to.
‘That is why I will argue tomorrow that Russia should accept Georgia’s territorial integrity and international mechanisms for addressing these conflicts, and withdraw troops to their previous positions.
‘And, in the light of Russian actions, the EU should review, root and branch, our relationship with Russia.’
He continued: ‘We are also reflecting on the NATO response. We must re-evaluate the alliance’s relationship with Russia, and intensify our support to Georgia and others who may face Russian aggression.’
Brown also said the summit ‘must add urgency to the work on Europe’s energy agenda’.
He stressed: ‘We must more rapidly build relationships with other producers of oil and gas.’
Foreign Secretary David Miliband, writing in the Mail on Sunday, claimed: ‘Russia has become the aggressor – it has gone from claiming to defend Russian passport holders in regions of Georgia to seeking the break-up of the state, showing disregard for the principles of modern international relations.’
Meanwhile, in a separate development, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke to his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
They agreed on the need to ‘put an end to attempts to use the situation surrounding Georgia. . . to raise tensions in Europe by speculating on non-existent threats concerning other post-Soviet countries’, said the Russian foreign ministry.
EU leaders are set to gather in Brussels for an emergency meeting on Georgia.
A number of member states, including Britain and Poland, have called for sanctions against Moscow, as well as the postponement of talks on a new partnership and cooperation agreement with Russia.
