Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine call for sending EU peacekeeping troops in Georgia
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Berlin, Aug 11, IRNA
Germany-Poland-Georgia
Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine urged the deployment of European Union peacekeeping forces in the Georgian breakaway provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, a top Polish official was quoted as in Warsaw Monday.
Russian peacekeeping troops are not credible, said the deputy head of Poland's presidential office, Piotr Kownacki.
Polish President Lech Kaczynski reportedly made such a proposal during a phone conversation with his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy whose country holds the current rotating EU presidency.
The plan was drafted jointly by the presidents of Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine.
A prerequisite for sending EU peacekeepers to Abkhazia and South Ossetia would be a truce, said Kownacki who is to travel to Tbilisi later in the day for talks with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili.
Asked whether Poland would be ready to take part in a likely EU peacekeeping mission in the Caucasus, Kownacki replied, "Certainly yes." The presidents of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia condemned over the weekend in a joint statement the actions of Russian forces fighting in South Ossetia.
The declaration was 'sharp, but the situation calls for it', the Polish president said in remarks to journalists in Warsaw.
He branded the Russian military intervention as violating international law and an 'act of aggression'.
"South Ossetia and Abkhazia are part of the republic of Georgia and nothing can change this," stressed Kaczynski.
The four states called on all NATO and European Union members 'to react accordingly' to the widening crisis.
Kaczynski demanded something more than 'insignificant statements'.
Warsaw has been pressing hard for Georgia's membership in NATO and the EU.
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