Georgia and Ukraine seek UN support against Russia

The leaders of Georgia and Ukraine go to the United Nations next week hoping to shore up Western support for their future Nato accession faced with a militarily resurgent Russia.

Swept westwards in the "Rose" and "Orange" revolutions of 2003 and 2004, the ex-Soviet states are looking anxiously for renewed commitment to their Euro-Atlantic aspirations.

But beyond harsh words, Western powers have yet to define a strategic response to the war over Georgia's South Ossetia, in which Russia showed it was ready to use force to defend spheres of "privileged interest" in its former Soviet backyard.

"Young democracies in this region need the support of developed democracies," Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili will say in a speech to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, according to senior government official Kakha Lomaia.

"That's why developed democracies need to provide clear roadmaps to meet our European and Euro-Atlantic aspirations."

Russia's intervention in Georgia last month drew international condemnation, but no sanctions.

It deepened concern over the security of energy supplies bypassing Russia from the Caspian Sea to the West, and sharpened divisions between the United States and some European states over the wisdom of Nato's eastwards expansion.

Russia is incensed by the military alliance's promise of membership for Tbilisi and Kiev.

 

‘NO COLLECTIVE SECURITY’

The Kremlin's decision to deploy forces in defence of pro-Moscow separatists in South Ossetia also rattled nerves in Ukraine, which accuses Russia of stoking tensions in Crimea, a region populated mainly by ethnic Russians and Russian-speakers.

Divisions over policy towards Russia contributed to the collapse this week of Ukraine's governing coalition, raising the prospect of a third parliamentary election in as many years.

"The Russia-Georgia conflict has shown that there is no collective security," said Andriy Goncharuk, foreign policy adviser to President Viktor Yushchenko. "And we have seen the predictable result -- what happens when one side is stronger than the other and there is nothing to offset that."

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Thursday the West should not give in to Russian "bullying".

But dependent on Russian gas and oil, some EU members – notably France and Germany – are anxious to avoid confrontation. In April, they blocked a US bid to grant Georgia and Ukraine roadmaps to accession. A review is due in December.

An influential think tank said this week there was a risk of Nato enlargement policy dividing the West.

The International Institute for Strategic Studies said Washington would continue to advocate expansion to Tbilisi and Kiev, but "Europeans have a strong case to argue that it is in Nato's strategic interest to pause its enlargement policy".

"The West must not reply to (Russia's) defiant mood through a form of strategic autism, advancing its interests blind to the emotional response this can elicit from the Russian leadership." 

 

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