Joint Press Conference with Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel.Part 4
August 15, 2008
Bocharov Ruchei, Sochi
Совместная пресс-конференция по итогам переговоров с Федеральным канцлером Германии Ангелой Меркель.
15 августа 2008 года
Сочи
DMITRY MEDVEDEV: As far as peacekeepers are concerned, of course we are not opposed to having international peacekeepers there. It is not our position on the matter that is the issue. We are carrying out our share of the responsibilities for ensuring security in this very complex region. But the issue is that the Ossetians and Abkhazians themselves trust only the Russian peacekeepers because the events of the last 15 years have shown them that the Russian peacekeepers are the only force able to protect their interests and often their very lives. This is why they see the Russian troops as the only guarantee of their security, and this is something that also has to be taken into account.
I can give you an example from a recent and also very complicated case, that of Kosovo, when Kosovo rejected the participation of peacekeepers under UN mandate and asked for peacekeeper units formed on the basis of a special European Union mandate, and this request of theirs was met. I do not intend to go into an assessment of the situation there, but at the very least, people who face oppression, pressure or genocide have to feel comfortable with the force charged with bringing peace and tranquillity to country.
We will therefore discuss these questions of course, and we have already begun discussing the presence of international observers in one form or another, including through taking the additional security measures provided for in the fifth principle agreed on with the French President. This process will continue, but I wanted to draw your attention to the fact that in this situation the position of the people affected, the people who have been subjected to violence and aggression, remains paramount.
ANGELA MERKEL: On this subject, I would only say clearly that of course we cannot send a peacekeeping force that has not been accepted by all the parties concerned. We sent a KFOR mission [a UN-mandated NATO-led peacekeeping force] to Kosovo and police forces. They are there now, and the European side wanted to provide them. Prior to that there were UN forces. This will need to be negotiated here, but from a political standpoint we have said that the European Union is open to such negotiations. And so we will have to wait a bit. All this is important to understand when trying to answer the question about whether in the near future we will energetically send international observers along with peacekeeping forces, if that is the right term. In addition, we also talked about the need for an international component. I think it would be useful to all parties, because international public opinion is of course monitoring the situation, and this would give us a higher level of objectivity.
With regard to the German side, I would like to say - and we talked about this at the Council of Foreign Ministers of the European Union - that this is not the time to try to identify precise causes and or to analyse how things evolved the way they did. The President of Russia has given me the Russian perspective, and now the time has come to draw the appropriate conclusions. For my part, I said that, even given the description of how this situation developed I considered and I still consider Russias response to have been disproportionate. Therefore I very strongly insist that the six principles plan be implemented as extensively as possible, in order to ensure that Russian troops withdraw from Georgian territory, and I have made this clear. We refer to it as the heart of Georgian territory so that they will leave it. This is one of the principles that must now be implemented as soon as possible. I think that in such complex conflicts the blame is very rarely all on one side. And I say now to both sides that it only very rarely that one side is not to blame at all. Now we need to move on.
QUESTION: My question is for you, Mr President.
Most people in the West do not share Russia's interpretation of this conflict. Does it worry you that this might lead to a long-term worsening in Russia's relations with the USA and the European Union?
Ms Federal Chancellor, are you worried that this conflict and the way it has developed make a rethinking of Russian-German and even Russian-European relations necessary?
And a question for both leaders: did you discuss this subject?
Thank you.
DMITRY MEDVEDEV: All we did was discuss the problems and consequences arising from this conflict.
