The European Union will not Sanction Russia

BRUSSELS.— The European Union rejected Friday applying sanctions on Russia after the crisis in the Caucasus, although it will put relations with Moscow “under surveillance,”, sources with the current French presidency and the European Commission said, according to the Italian news agency ANSA.

The French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, had talked on Thursday about the possibility of sanctions; however, “the hour of sanctions hadn’t come” said sources of the Ellysee, which added, nevertheless, that the EU relations with Russia will not go on “as if nothing had happened,” and that “the time had come for Moscow to choose, to decide.”

Russia deployed military forces in Georgia after that country, whose government is pro Western, launched an attack on South Ossetia, August 8.

Also in Brussels, sources from the Commission—the Executive of the EU—, said that it is imposing the application of the six point agreement between Russia and Georgia, reached with French intervention. The Russian foreign ministry reiterated in an official statement the “humanitarian” reasons for the Russian intervention, and stated that the Kremlin respects the cease fire agreement.

The summit on Monday will be devoted to a “global evaluation of the relations” between the EU and Russia, said the Brussels sources, and those bonds will be “under watch, while waiting for corroboration of the Russian will to proceed on the road for the reinforcement of cooperation,” at least until the next bilateral meeting, November 14, in Nice.

According to the Russian newspaper Kommersant, the European meeting will deal with two different resolutions, a Polish one, that calls for economic and financial sanctions against Moscow and has the support of Great Britain, and another, prepared by Italy with the support of Germany, France and Greece, more moderate, that stresses the need for withdrawal of the Russian forces from Georgia, the port of Poti and the buffer zones set up by Moscow on the administrative borders of the separatist republics.

For its part, the Foreign Ministry in Moscow said that the attempt by NATO to pressure Russia could have “irreversible consequences on the political-military plane” and for the stability in the continent.

The EU “should not be involved in Washington’s geopolitical game, which has the aim of weakening both Russia and Europe,” the Russian representative, Dmitri Rogozin told NATO.

During the day, Georgia announced the breaking off of diplomatic relations with Moscow. “It would be quite uncomfortable to maintain diplomatic relations (...) when Russia opens diplomatic relations with South Ossetia and Abkhazia,” said the Georgian minister of foreign relations, Eka Tkeshelashvili, during a visit to Norway.

According to AFP, the Georgian Deputy Minister of Foreign Relations, Grigol Vashadze, said that “the Russian diplomats should leave Georgia,” although both countries will maintain consular relations until Tiflis notifies its decision officially to Moscow.