EU leaders 'to warn Moscow'

2008-09-01 14:04

Robert Wielraad

Brussels - EU leaders were meeting on Monday to examine relations with Russia after its invasion of Georgia, but they have few punitive options to use against a neighbour that is a supplier of natural gas and oil to Western Europe.

Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi said the European Union summit being held in Brussels should be one that "looks to dialogue rather than confrontation".

"I hope there will be unity in deciding not to impose sanctions on Russia," Berlusconi told Italian TV before leaving for Brussels.

The 27 European leaders are expected to warn Moscow that normal relations are impossible with Russian troops violating a ceasefire agreement with Georgia.

They also are likely to offer more humanitarian, economic and moral support for Georgia.

Javier Solana said the EU would send a few hundred civilian observers to Georgia to monitor Russian forces, who have stayed there in violation - the EU and the US say - of a ceasefire negotiated by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

'Mistake of historic proportions'

Moscow warned the West on Monday against supporting Georgia's leadership, and called for an arms embargo against its small southern neighbour until Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili's government is replaced.

"If instead of choosing their national interests and the interests of the Georgian people, the United States and its allies choose the Saakashvili regime, this will be a mistake of truly historic proportions," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

However, Sarkozy urged the EU leaders to send a "clear and united message" to Moscow, saying in a pre-summit letter that the gathering was an "opportunity to "seriously examine relations between the European Union and Russia". France currently holds the rotating EU presidency.

"Russia's commitment to a relationship of understanding and co-operation with the rest of Europe is in doubt," Sarkozy said in the letter to EU leaders. "It's up to Russia today to make a fundamental choice" about engaging its neighbours and partners in settling disputes peacefully.

On Sunday, Georgian Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze asked the EU and the US to impose sanctions on companies and individuals doing business in its breakaway provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia without its permission.

"What we are calling for is ... sanctions addressing those individuals, business and officials who by their actions, current or future, seek to somehow continue to violate our territorial integrity," Gurgenidze said in an interview with The Associated Press before going into meetings with EU officials.

Gurgenidze was not scheduled to address the European leaders.

On August 7, Georgian forces attacked South Ossetia, hoping to retake the province, which broke away from Georgia in the early 1990s. Russian forces repelled the offensive and pushed into Georgia. Both sides signed a ceasefire deal in mid-August, but Russia has ignored its requirement for all forces to return to pre-war positions.

Oil supplier

Moscow has insisted the ceasefire accord lets it run checkpoints in security zones of up to six kilometres into Georgian territory.

Possible EU actions against Russia include a boycott of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi - a Russian city near the Georgian border - or holding off on talks for a broader economic partnership with Moscow.

"If Russia continues in its policy, I can't imagine that the Olympics could take place there," Czech Vice Premier Alexandr Vondra said on Sunday.

Russia supplies the EU with a third of its oil and 40% of its natural gas - a dependence the European Commission says will rise significantly in the future.

- AP