Russia 090804 Basic Political Developments

Russia backs North Korea sanctions, nuclear halt: U.S.

http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idUSTRE5724CG20090804
Tue Aug 4, 2009 12:26am EDT

By Conor Sweeney

MOSCOW, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Russia has renewed its support for U.N. sanctions designed to halt North Korea's efforts to expand its nuclear arsenal, the U.S. envoy for implementing the sanctions said Monday.

Ambassador Philip Goldberg made the comment to Reuters in an interview at the end of his first day of discussions in Moscow with officials in the Russian Foreign Ministry. China made a similar pledge at the United Nations last Thursday.

After North Korea's second nuclear test in May this year, the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution expanding an existing arms embargo.

It also urged states to cut off all financial ties with Pyongyang unrelated to aid programs, and called for additional firms and individuals to be placed on a U.N. blacklist for aiding North Korea.

"I think there is a unity of view among all the members of the Security Council, the sanctions committee, in implementing and in support for the resolution," Goldberg said.

He said this was intended "not as a matter to punish the North Korean people but as a matter to get us back to the main goal that we all share, which is denuclearization and non- proliferation on the Korean peninsula."

Asked if he felt Russia was responding positively to ensure U.N. sanctions were fully implemented, he said:

"I think there is very strong support amongst the entire Security Council for that goal."

Moscow sometimes has positioned itself in opposition to Washington on international issues and was reluctant to back tough new controls against North Korea but has condemned Pyongyang's continual defiance of successive U.N. resolutions.

EXPANDING SANCTIONS

Eight entities, including North Korea's General Bureau of Atomic Energy, and five North Korean individuals are now on the U.N. sanctions list. They face mandatory asset freezes and travel bans in all 192 U.N. member states.

Goldberg said the United States would likely expand its own sanctions list and then consider seeking U.N. support for it.

"We, under our own national law, have identified one or two entities that we will designate ourselves but we will probably at some point go back to the committee."

"We believe that the committee stands ready to accept more information and additional entities and individuals," he said.

Goldberg characterized the discussions, which also involved U.S. officials with oversight for national security and financial crimes, as very technical interpretations of national rules on inspections and on financial services and transactions.

Asked if efforts to "reset" relations between Moscow and Washington under U.S. President Barack Obama had improved the climate for the discussions, he smiled and said, "We had a very cordial and good exchange and that's what's important."

(Editing by Michael Roddy)

S.Ossetian Leader Sacks PM

http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=21325

Civil Georgia, Tbilisi / 4 Aug.'09 / 11:29

Eduard Kokoity, breakaway South Ossetia’s leader, signed a decree on August 3 dismissing head of the government Aslanbek Bulatsev.

Kokoity cited “health condition” of Bulatsev, according to the statement posted on the breakaway region’s governmental website.

Before becoming the breakaway region’s Prime Minister in October, 2008, Bulatsev served as the head of the Federal Tax Service in Russia’s North Ossetian Republic and prior to that he was head of the financial department of the Federal Security Service in North Ossetia.

South Ossetian PM relieved of duties

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=14203440

TSKHINVAL, August 4 (Itar-Tass) - President of South Ossetia Eduard Kokoity has signed a decree relieving Aslanbek Bulatsev of the duties of the republic’s government chairman for health reasons, the South Ossetian Ministry of Press and Mass Communication reported on Tuesday.

The decree says that in connection with the prime minister’s dismissal, the South Ossetian government will also resign. “Members of the government of the South Ossetia Republic shall fulfil their duties until the formation of a new government of South Ossetia,” the decree says.

Russia plans no drills in South Ossetia in near future – DM

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=14203442&PageNum=0

MOSCOW, August 4 (Itar-Tass) - Russia’s Defence Ministry has no plans to hold military drills on South Ossetia’s territory in the near future, the ministry’s official told Itar-Tass on Tuesday denying mass media reports.

These reports said that on Monday some preventive exercise engaging Russian troops deployed in South Ossetia began in the republic.

“No large-scale exercise with the engagement of the 4th Russian military base deployed in South Ossetia are planned,” the official said.

The 4th Russian military base was deployed in South Ossetia after Georgia’s aggression against the republic last August.

On August 1, the Defence Ministry following Georgia’s shooting attacks on Tskhinval warned that “in case of further provocations that pose a threat to the republic’s population and Russia’s military contingent deployed in South Ossetia the ministry reserves the right to use all forces and means to protect citizens of South Ossetia and Russian servicemen.”

Tensions rise in South Ossetia ahead of war's first anniversary

http://en.rian.ru/world/20090804/155719417.html
MOSCOW, August 4 (RIA Novosti) - With the anniversary of last August's five-day war between Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia just a few days away, events in the region are taking on an oddly familiar tone.

In an echo of the accusations and counter-accusations that marked the buildup to last year's August 8-12 conflict, both Georgia and its former republic of South Ossetia have been trading claims of attacks on one another's territories.

On Tuesday, the South Ossetian communications ministry told RIA Novosti that the village of Otrev, near the republic's capital of Tskhinvali, had been shelled by Georgian forces from across the border. No injuries were reported.

The village was among the first to come under attack last August 8, when Georgian forces attacked the republic in an attempt to bring it back under central control. South Ossetia had enjoyed de facto independence since the early 1990s.

The Georgian Interior Ministry said late on Monday that three rocket-propelled grenades had been launched from South Ossetia at a Georgian village. Again, no injuries were reported.

Both sides also alleged attacks on their territories at the weekend. Russia has said it will use force to protect South Ossetian residents.

Last August's war saw Russian forces chase invading Georgian troops deep into Georgia amid accusations on both sides of human rights abuses. Russia eventually withdrew from Georgian territory and recognized the independence of both South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another former Georgian republic, on August 24. It has since stationed some 4,000 troops in the two republics.

The European Union, in a statement issued by current president Sweden, called for calm in the region.

"The European Union notes with concern the recent accusations of shellings and other incidents on both sides of the South Ossetian administrative boundary line," the statement said. "The EU urges all sides to refrain from any statement or action that may lead to increased tensions at this particularly sensitive time."

The statement also called on both sides to grant the European Union Monitoring Mission unrestricted access to both sides of the South Ossetian border.