Sarkozy condemns Russia for recognising Abkhazia and South Ossetia from UN rostrum

On September 23, speaking from the rostrum of the United Nations, President of France Nicolas Sarkozy condemned the Russia's decision to unilaterally recognize the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

President of France noted that the European Union pointed out to Russia that it could not renounce the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity of the states, and would not accept the use of force at settling conflicts, the RIA "Novosti" reports.

Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Yakovenko has stated at a special session of the UN Security Council that the intermediary efforts undertaken by President of France Nicolas Sarkozy for termination of warfare in South Ossetia have disillusioned the leadership of Georgia. As he said, the events in the Caucasus have demonstrated that modern conflicts have no solution by application of force.

According to the "Nezavisimaya Gazeta", Mr Luk Van den Brande, head of the delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), expressed his confidence that Russia would not be deprived of its vote at the PACE after the events in Georgia. "Europe needs Russia, and Russia needs Europe as a partner," he said before taking his flight from Moscow to Georgia.

On September 29, the PACE will consider a draft resolution, suspending the powers of the Russian delegation, which was brought to the Assembly by 24 out of 636 members of the PACE, mainly, by representatives from Eastern Europe.

In his turn, President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, when addressing the session of the General Assembly of the United Nations, has accused the West of the armed conflict of Georgia and Russia around South Ossetia. "It's a pity that the peoples of South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Georgia became victims of the provocation by NATO, certain Western countries and Zionists," the CNN quotes Mr Ahmadinejad as saying.

President of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili, speaking to the session of the UN General Assembly on September 23, has called the UN member-states to pursue the policy of non-recognition of South Ossetia's and Abkhazia's independence.

The "Caucasian Knot" has already reported that so far, apart from Russia, only one country - Nicaragua - has officially declared recognition of South Ossetia's and Abkhazia's independence.

We remind you that today, Belarus, Russia's partner in the Union State, is not going to recognize Abkhazia's and South Ossetia's independence. President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko announced it on September 23.

Today, Vladimir Ogryzko, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, has stated, at his meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, that Ukraine would not recognize the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.