BRUSSELS, Belgium (CNN) — NATO has accused Russia of failing to honor the full terms of the cease-fire agreement brokered by the European Union last week aimed at ending the fighting in Georgia.
NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said on Tuesday that Russian forces were still inside Georgia despite the agreement to withdraw — and despite Moscow saying they had begun doing so on Monday.
We do not see signals of this happening, Scheffer said. There can be no business as usual with Russia under the present circumstances.
Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said NATO’s accusations were biased.
Lavrov said NATO was taking the side of Georgia, whose forces he said had failed to withdraw to their barracks.
They blame us as if there were no requirements for the Georgian side in the six points (of the cease-fire agreement), he said. I mean the requirements to bring back their troops to the places where they are on a permanent basis.
Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of staff of Russia’s armed forces, said Tuesday that some troops remained in place to protect South Ossetia’s borders.
The conflict began when Georgian troops entered the breakaway territory to attack pro-Moscow separatists. Russia responded by invading the country on August 8, prompting heavy fighting with Georgian forces that spread to another breakaway territory, Abkhazia.
The fighting has devastated parts of Georgia and South Ossetia, with many casualties reported. The U.N. refugee agency said more than 158,000 people had been displaced by fighting in Georgia, mostly from districts outside the breakaway territories where the fighting began. Watch how Georgians are being affected by the conflict
Both Russia and Georgia accuse the other of ethnic cleansing during the conflict.
Hopes of resolving the crisis had been boosted earlier on Tuesday when Georgia and Russia exchanged soldiers who had been captured during the fighting, then Russia agreed to a beefed-up monitoring mission for Georgia’s disputed region of South Ossetia.
However, at the same time Russian soldiers took 21 Georgian military police officers prisoner at the port of Poti in western Georgia, interior ministry officials said. The Associated Press reported they also seized four American vehicles set to be returned to the U.S. following joint military exercises.
Georgian officials said that local police in Poti asked the military police to intercede when Russian forces entered the city and impeded the delivery of humanitarian aid. After a verbal exchange, the Russian forces took the Georgians into custody, according to the interior ministry officials.
The military police officers were disarmed and transferred to the nearby town of Senaki, where Russian forces have established a base, the officials said. The Russian military, however, said its forces were picking up roving Georgian forces who have not returned to their bases.
Scheffer’s announcement came after foreign ministers from NATO member nations gathered in Belgium for an emergency meeting over the crisis which also involved U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
A statement from the ministers said: Military action must cease definitively and military forces must return to their positions held prior to the outbreak of hostilities.
NATO members remain concerned by Russia’s actions, the statement said, calling Russian military action disproportionate.
Ministers said they were seriously considering the implications of Russia’s actions on the NATO-Russia relationship
As long as Russian forces are basically occupying a large part of Georgia, I cannot see a NATO-Russia Council convene at whatever level, Scheffer said.
I should add that we certainly do not have the intention to close all doors in our communication with Russia, but … the future will depend on the concrete actions from the Russian side. Watch report on what actions West may take against Russia
Scheffer said NATO would set up a NATO-Georgian Commission to oversee Georgia’s relationship with the international alliance, supervise its bid to join the group and assist Tbilisi with support in the wake of the Russian invasion.
He said a team of 50 NATO staff would to go to Georgia to help assess needs of the Georgian military, help with air traffic resumption and assist in the investigation of cyber attacks.
The U.S. claims Russia is trying to undermine the government of Georgia’s pro-Western leader, Mikheil Saakashvili.
The Bush administration wants suspension of the whole spectrum of programs of cooperation between NATO and Russia. Britain and several former Soviet republics support this idea, but other countries — including France and Germany — are less inclined to isolate Russia that aggressively.
The United States wants Europe to cancel the many exchanges of personnel and postpone an EU-Russia summit scheduled for November, and is also pushing Europe to start lessening its energy dependence on Russia.
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The attack, which Algerian officials called a terrorist attack, occurred early Tuesday morning at a school in Boumerdes, about 60 kilometers (40 miles) east of the capital city of Algiers.
