US Inks Nuclear Energy Deal With Russia, Urges Russia's Restraint Over Tension With Georgia

Russia, U.S. to ink nuclear energy deal

www.chinaview.cn 2008-05-06 21:00:03

MOSCOW, May 6 (Xinhua) --

Russia and the United States are expected to sign an agreement on the peaceful use of nuclear energy Tuesday, Itar-Tass news agency reported.

The agreement, to be signed by Sergei Kirienko, head of the Russian nuclear energy monopoly Rosatom, and U.S. Ambassador to Russia William Burns, will "create legislation for direct cooperation between companies of the two countries in this sphere," Itar-Tass quoted an anonymous source as saying.

Outgoing Russian President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart George W. Bush initiated the deal in July 2006.

Moscow and Washington have made proposals to set up an international cartel to offer nuclear fuel cycle services, including uranium enrichment, and establish a global nuclear energy partnership to develop innovation reactors and fuel cycle technologies.

Editor: Du Guodong

U.S. urges Russia's restraint over tension with Georgia

www.chinaview.cn 2008-05-03 05:19:42

WASHINGTON, May 2 (Xinhua) --

The United States urged Russia on Friday to show restraint over its tension with neighboring Georgia and reaffirmed its support for the pro-Western Georgia.

"We would urge restraint on the part of the Russian government and urge them to consider the effects of their actions on the overall stability of the region," State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said at a briefing.

"We continue to fully and completely support the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia," Casey said.

Casey said the United States wants to see Georgia and Russia have good neighborly relations, "and we certainly would urge the Russian government to exercise caution in any activities that it is taking because we don't think that some of the things that we have seen lead to increased stability or increased security, not only for Georgia, but for Russia as well."

Georgia has warned Russia not to increase its peacekeeping force in the conflict zones, otherwise it would view the move as an aggression.

Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday that "due to the heightening of tensions in the zone of the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict, the Russian peacekeepers command put up 15 additional observation posts."

The collective peacekeeping force, which is made up of Russian servicemen, was deployed in the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict zone in 1994. The combined peacekeeping force of Georgia, Russia and North Ossetia was brought to the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone in 1992 in line with Georgian-Russian accords.

Editor: MU Xuequan

Georgia says "very close" to war with Russia

Tue May 6, 2008 1:26pm EDT

By Mark John

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Russia's deployment of extra troops in the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia has brought the prospect of war "very close", a minister of ex-Soviet Georgia said on Tuesday.

Separately, in comments certain to fan rising tension between Moscow and Tbilisi, the "foreign minister" of the breakaway Black Sea region was quoted as saying it was ready to hand over military control to Russia.

"We literally have to avert war," Temur Iakobashvili, a Georgian State Minister, told reporters in Brussels.

Asked how close to such a war the situation was, he replied: "Very close, because we know Russians very well."

"We know what the signals are when you see propaganda waged against Georgia. We see Russian troops entering our territories on the basis of false information," he said.

At a banking event in Madrid, Vice Finance Minister Dimitri Gvindadze said the Georgian economy was holding up despite the tensions. However ratings agency Fitch said a conflict would likely hit Georgia's ratings but not immediately Russia's.

"Obviously if we have an unfreezing of the conflict that will be extremely negative for the country (Georgia) and would lead to negative ratings action," Fitch's Edward Parker told Reuters in London.

Georgia, a vital energy transit route in the Caucasus region, has angered Russia, its former Soviet master with which it shares a land border, by seeking NATO membership.

Russia has said its troop build-up is needed to counter what it says are Georgian plans to attack Abkhazia, a sliver of land by the Black Sea, and has accused Tbilisi of trying to suck the West into a war -- allegations Georgia rejects.

Tensions have been steadily mounting and escalated after Georgia accused Russia of shooting down one of its drones over Abkhazia in April, a claim Russia denied.

An extra Russian contingent began arriving in Abkhazia last week. Moscow has not said how many troops would be added but said the total would remain within the 3,000 limit allowed under a United Nations-brokered ceasefire agreement signed in 1994. Diplomats expect the reinforcement to be of the order of 1,200.

SECURITY GUARANTEES

Russian soldiers acting as peacekeepers patrol areas between Georgian and Abkhazian forces but handing full military control of the breakaway province to the Kremlin would alarm both the Georgian government and its allies in the West.

"Those 200 km (120 miles), the distance between the Psou and the Inguri rivers, are all Abkhazia. We agree to Russia taking this territory under its military control," Sergei Shamba, "foreign minister" of Abkhazia, told Russian newspaper Izvestia.

"In exchange, we will demand guarantees of our security."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow had not received an official request from Abkhazia for its military to take control of the region.

Iakobashvili urged EU states to take a more active role in the region, with options including the deployment of border monitors or a police mission.

Diplomats said EU President Slovenia was studying sending a delegation at the level of state secretaries to Georgia as a gesture of solidarity, but a number of ex-communist EU states were insisting it should be a full-fledged ministerial visit.

(Additional reporting in Moscow by James Kilner; Editing by Dominic Evans)

Fair Use Notice

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.