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Georgia’s attack is our 9/11: Medvedev

MOSCOW: Georgia’s attack on Russian peacekeepers and civilians in South Ossetia was “Russia’s 9/11,” said President Dmitry Medvedev.

“For Russia August 8 [the day Georgia launched its offensive] was almost like September 11, 2001, for the United States,” Mr. Medvedev said on Friday speaking at a annual meeting of the Valdai Club, a group of foreign experts on Russia.

“Mankind has learnt many useful lessons from 9/11. I would like the world to draw lessons from 8/8 as well,” he said.

“The world has changed… Russia has zones of interests… [and] we will defend our interests and our citizens.” The Russian leader said even if Georgia were on a firm path to NATO membership, this would not have saved it from Russian retaliation.

“Getting closer to Russia’s borders NATO is not becoming stronger,” he said. “What if Georgia had a NATO membership action plan? I would not wait for a second in making the decision I made at that point.”

The Georgia crisis shattered whatever illusions Russians still retained after the break-up of Soviet Union — that the world was just and fair, global security stable and well established, and main players balanced each other, said Mr. Medvedev. International security mechanisms failed pathetically when Georgia mounted a cynical and adventurous attack on its breakaway territory.

“We must build a new security system based on international law, not on the might-is-right rule,” he said.

Russia is no longer frail and weak, as it was in the 1990s, and will forge ties, including in the defence field, with any state that wants to be friends with it, whether somebody likes it or not, Mr. Medvedev asserted.

As he spoke reports came that the Russian and Syrian naval commanders were discussing in Moscow plans for a Russian naval base in Syria, while Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki began talks with his Russian counterpart. A day earlier Russia’s long-range nuclear bombers flew on a training mission to America’s sworn enemy Venezuela.

Russia and its Central Asian allies — Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan — will set up a large military force to fend off possible attacks in the region, the head of the Russia-led defence pact announced on Friday.

General Nikolai Bordyuzha, Secretary-General of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, said the decision was taken at a recent summit of the alliance in Moscow.

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