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Russian President Talks Tough To The West

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The Associated Press

Published: September 7, 2008

MOSCOW - President Dmitry Medvedev declared Saturday that "Russia is a nation to be reckoned with" after its conflict with Georgia, again putting the West on notice that Moscow is prepared to use its military and economic might.

With a U.S. Navy ship unloading aid off Georgia's Black Sea coast within shooting distance of Russian troops, Medvedev's comments were another reminder that the Kremlin views last month's conflict as the start of a new era in Russian assertiveness.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said, "The truth is on our side." Putin likened the situation in the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia to Srebrenica, the Bosnian town where Serb troops in 1995 killed some 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Europe's worst mass carnage since World War II, and where, he said, European peacekeepers stood aside as the massacre took place.

In France, the European Union's 27 foreign ministers were reluctant to provoke Moscow. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said the EU did not plan to impose sanctions on Russia.

"Russia must remain a partner, it's our neighbor, it's a large country and there is no question to go back to a Cold War situation, that would be a big mistake," Kouchner said.

In the weeks since Russian forces routed the Georgian army and seized South Ossetia, Russian officials have used bellicose language toward the West. Putin has suggested the United States was to blame for the war for helping the Georgian military rebuild.

At a Russian State Council meeting Saturday, Medvedev said the world had changed since the start of fighting in Georgia last month.

Medvedev criticized the United States and other Western nations, though not by name, for challenging Russia's intervention.

The United States has moved to counter Russia by lambasting Moscow for what it called a disproportionate military response and by providing humanitarian and economic aid to Georgia.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy will go to Russia on Monday to meet with Medvedev and to clarify parts of the EU peace deal, especially the terms for withdrawing troops.

U.S. SPEAKS OUT

•Vice President Dick Cheney said Saturday that Russia's actions in the conflict with Georgia were an "affront to civilized standards" and called on Western nations to stand united against any effort by Moscow to use its dominance as an energy supplier to intimidate its neighbors.

•Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Saturday said the time is not right for the United States to move forward on a once-celebrated deal for civilian nuclear cooperation with Russia. Her comment increased speculation that President Bush is planning to punish Moscow for invading Georgia, a former Soviet republic, by canceling the agreement. Such a move is being planned, but is not yet final, senior Bush administration officials said.

A wire report

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