12 June 2004 10:13
Russian MP accuses official Tbilisi of escalating conflict with South Ossetia
[Presenter] The pulling together of military hardware on the territory of South Ossetia is a reaction to Georgian
government's recent actions, Dmitriy Rogozin, the leader of the Motherland faction in the State Duma, has said.
[Rogozin] In recent weeks there has been an active escalation of tension on the part of the official Tbilisi.
Starting from the military parade in Tbilisi which [Georgian] President Mikheil Saakashvili reviewed in person to
belligerent remarks from members of his inner circle, including the defence minister to the latest act of provocation on
the borders with South Ossetia that even involved the Georgian president's wife [reference to 1 June attempt by
Sandra Roelofs to visit South Ossetian children]. All this cannot but provoke an opposite reaction. Therefore the main
thing now is for the instigator of those acts of provocation, that is the official Georgian authorities, to stop giving
reasons to doubt whether tomorrow will be peaceful.
[In its report at 0815 gmt on 12 Jun 04, Russian Ekho Moskvy news agency, Moscow, in Russian, quoted Rogozin as
saying that members of the Motherland faction were planning to visit Abkhazia shortly to meet Russian citizens living in
that Georgian republic. "The Motherland faction will try to avoid making any political statements, we shall not
give grounds for building up tension. However keeping in touch with Russian citizens living abroad is a duty of all MPs
and we shall perform it," Rogozin said.]
[Ekho Moskvy radio] |
RUSSIA IN FACTS
