Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Russia "testing reactions"

Georgia's President Saakashvili has pointed to the irony of the presence of Russia's President Medvedev at the recent anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall:
“What does it mean – welcoming the Russian President in Berlin as if he were a big democrat to mark the fall of the Berlin Wall, while Erich Honecker [the last leader of German Democratic Republic] was not doing even one tenth of what [Russia] is doing now; Honecker was eventually apprehended by the Europeans… And now they [the Europeans] have him [Medvedev] sitting smiling next to them; it won’t work – shaking one hand with them [Europeans] and capturing children with the other.”
By "capturing children", Saakashvili was referring to the recent detention of four Georgian teenagers by South Ossetian forces. Saakashvili appealed to leaders of the countries of the EU to react more decisively to Russia's provocative actions:
"The Russians are testing the reactions of others, what others will do in response to Russia’s provocations. What happens next will depend on cases like this."

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