NATO not aware of Russian, Georgian troop movements: official
Neither Russia nor Georgia have informed NATO of any troop movements around the rebel regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, a NATO official said Wednesday, as the two traded accusations of moves by their forces.
"Nothing has been notified," the official said, on condition of anonymity, ahead of a meeting between NATO and Russian ambassadors at the military alliance's headquarters in Brussels.
On Tuesday, Russia's defence ministry announced an increase in peacekeeping forces to the two separatist Georgian regions in response to what it called aggressive moves by pro-Western Georgia.
Under a key Soviet-era arms pact, Moscow would normally notify NATO nations of any troop movements, as it has continued to do despite freezing the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty in December.
Georgia, for its part, is striving to become a NATO member and the 26-nation North Atlantic Treaty Organization confirmed at a summit this month that Tbilisi would one day join its ranks.
The NATO official said the ambassadors would discuss a range of topics, but underlined that on Russia and Georgia: "I'm sure that this issue will come up."
The official said that alliance Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer had already discussed the problem in bilateral talks with Russia's ambassador to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin.
At a meeting on Monday, NATO ambassadors described Moscow's recent rhetoric on the possible use of its forces as: "at the very least unhelpful."
Some of them affirmed that "the recent Russian moves call into question Russia's position as an arbiter in resolving these crises," spokesman James Appathurai said.
The ambassadors, who sit in the North Atlantic Council, have decided to travel to Georgia in the coming months, Georgian and NATO officials have confirmed.
Russia maintains a peacekeeping force in Abkhazia and South Ossetia under an agreement with Georgia in the 1990s following wars in which separatists broke away and established close ties with Moscow, which has encouraged residents there to take Russian citizenship.
The Russian defence ministry, which accused Georgia of massing troops near the rebel areas, did not say how many extra soldiers were being sent, but said that 15 new observation posts would be set up on the front line in Abkhazia.
Around 2,000 Russians serve there and a further 1,000 in South Ossetia.
AFP
