SCO backs Moscow against West

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:23:43 GMT

  Russia wins the backing of China and Central Asian states over Georgia conflict despite the EU's mounting pressure and threats of sanctions.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev expressed hope on Thursday that the united position of a summit of Central Asian nations would “serve as a serious signal to those who try to turn black into white.”

Leaders from the countries convened in Dushanbe as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a regional group founded in 2001 to balance NATO influence in the Central Asia region.

The West has strongly opposed Russia's military action in Georgia this month and Medvedev's decision to recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, whose country holds the presidency of the European Union, earlier said the bloc was considering sanctions against Moscow.

But Russia criticized the West for agitating the Black Sea region and warned attempts to isolate Moscow could lead to an economic backlash.

Moscow remains wary of a growing NATO naval presence in the Black Sea, accusing the West of using aid shipments as a cover for rearming Georgia's shattered forces after Russia responded to Georgia's military action against the province of South Ossetia.

"Certainly some measures of precaution are being taken," said a spokesman for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Peskov. "It's not a common practice to deliver humanitarian aid using battleships."

Peskov stressed such attempts by Western states against his oil-rich country would “definitely harm the economic interests of those states.”

China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, however, voiced support for Russia's 'active role' in resolving the conflict in Georgia.

MRS/RA