Sergey Lavrov

“ Surely democracies do not unleash aggressive wars. Here our western partners have to choose either to be with the one who murdered Russian citizens or deny him unconditional support.
There should be no confusing the Saakashvili regime with the Georgian people, for whom we entertain a sincere feeling of friendship and sympathy. Sooner or later I am sure that the Georgian people will acquire worthy leaders who will be able to really care for their country and to develop respectful, equal and good-neighborly relations with all peoples of the Caucasus. ”

“ None of those concerned with Nagorno-Karabakh and Transnistrian settlement plan to violate international law, tear up existing accords, destroy the agreed settlement formats and bomb civilian residents and peacekeepers. There is no one there who would like to ensure territorial integrity by mass killing of people whom you consider your citizens, residents of your own country. ”

“ Among the main foreign policy aims of Russia is shaping good-neighborly relations with all contiguous states on the basis of observance of the treaties and agreements concluded with them and assisting the removal of existing and the prevention of new seats of tension and conflicts in the regions adjacent to us. ”

“ Especially as the dust is beginning to settle, and all are beginning to ask themselves the necessary questions, the answers to which require facts. And the facts are on our side. In response to the judgment about Russia solely in the form of slogans like “Russia started war against Georgia!”, “Russia is an occupier” and so forth our country is presenting the truth which just can’t be brushed away and our truth is carving its way into western media as well. ”

“ International peacekeeping is an effective instrument of resolving armed conflicts and solving the tasks of state building at the post-crisis stage. We intend to build up our participation in such activities through structures in the CIS space, under the aegis of the UN and via interaction with regional and international organizations, including the European Union. ”

“ As before, we believe that contemporary conflicts have no force-based solutions, of which the failure of Saakashvili’s aggression is but one more confirmation. Their solution should be sought through engaging all the parties in dialogue and negotiation, not through isolating some one of them. ”

“ Most international actors have drawn the right conclusions and are stepping up the process of their self-determination in world affairs, well aware that to simply follow by inertia the logic which attempts were made to foist by assuming unipolarity is no good anymore. ”

“ They indicate that the absolute non-transparency of US policy, where the ideologically biased middle-level State Department officials set the tone, is already being perceived as a threat to the United States’ own national interests. ”

“ Through his aggression against South Ossetia on the night of August 7-8, the shelling of a sleeping city and the preparation of a similar blitzkrieg against Abkhazia, the current Georgian president himself gave up on the territorial integrity of his state.
Our decision on recognition has been dictated by legal and political and moral considerations. It gives everybody a real way out of the situation which would otherwise have remained a source of regional destabilization for a long time. ”

“ This is a continuation of our close interaction, without which there can be no effective foreign policy, and it is not for nothing that the Foreign Policy Concept, which the President approved in July last year, emphasizes the importance of forming public diplomacy as well. We must explain our line in every way and actively work with political scientists and NGOs and with business and the media. ”

“ Although information work is, of course, important, it is extremely important for us right now to ensure the security of South Ossetia, in the first place, but also of Abkhazia, since, as I said, an armed provocation was being prepared against it as well. ”

“ This is vivid evidence of the prevailing broad consensus in society on the foreign policy course defined by the President. We expect that our interaction will be a weighty factor in ensuring our national interests in the future as well. ”

“ It is important, however, that most Europeans understand that the realization of the accords reached is necessary both for the settlement of this particular crisis and for a return to full-fledged dialogue and cooperation. ”