North Pole Resident
08-18-2008, 09:07 PM
It's time for Russia to show its power....
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00362/Medvedev385_362539a.jpg
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian President, today promised a “shattering” blow against any foreign power that moved against Russian citizens.
The threat will compound the fears of former Soviet states which are concerned that they could be next after the Russian attack on Georgia.
“If someone thinks they can kill our citizens, kill soldiers and officers fulfilling the role of peacekeepers, we will never allow this,” Mr Medvedev told a group of Second World War veterans in Kursk. “Anyone who tries to do this will receive a shattering blow.”
He continued: “Russia has the capabilities — economic, political and military. Nobody has any illusions left about that.”
Russia’s incursion into Georgia, and its reluctance to leave, has alarmed former Soviet states such as Ukraine and the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
The war was designed in part to give a message to the former Soviet states that “you can’t solve your problems by running to give the West a hug”, Liliya Shevtsova, an analyst with the Carnegie Centre in Moscow, said.
At the start of the war, Mr Medvedev said it was his constitutional right to defend the “lives and dignity” of Russian citizens, and Georgia’s allies fear that Russia will now begin to throw its weight around in defence of the millions of ethnic Russians who live outside Russia.
The break-up of the Soviet Union left a huge Russian diaspora outside the country. There are more than 8 million ethnic Russians in Ukraine, 4.5 million in Kazakhstan and 1.2 million in the Baltic states.
One man was killed in riots and demonstrations between the Estonian Russian diaspora and police in Tallinn last year after the Estonians moved a Second World War monument that had been erected in the city by the Soviet regime. Russia has complained that ethnic Russians are discriminated against in the Baltic states, an accusation that the EU has supported in some cases.
Ukraine and the Baltic States were quick to support Georgia, but Belarus, which is normally an ardent supporter of its only ally in Europe, meekly called for a ceasefire. There are more than one million ethnic Russians in Belarus.
The leaders of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia condemned the actions of Russian forces and travelled to Georgia last week to show solidarity with Tbilisi. The Estonian paper Postimees even published a map explaining the weapons that Russia could use to attack Estonia. Ukraine told Russia that it could not use its Crimea-based Black Sea Fleet in armed conflicts without permission, after Russia’s deployment of warships near Georgia.
READ MORE -- http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article4557369.ece
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00362/Medvedev385_362539a.jpg
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian President, today promised a “shattering” blow against any foreign power that moved against Russian citizens.
The threat will compound the fears of former Soviet states which are concerned that they could be next after the Russian attack on Georgia.
“If someone thinks they can kill our citizens, kill soldiers and officers fulfilling the role of peacekeepers, we will never allow this,” Mr Medvedev told a group of Second World War veterans in Kursk. “Anyone who tries to do this will receive a shattering blow.”
He continued: “Russia has the capabilities — economic, political and military. Nobody has any illusions left about that.”
Russia’s incursion into Georgia, and its reluctance to leave, has alarmed former Soviet states such as Ukraine and the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
The war was designed in part to give a message to the former Soviet states that “you can’t solve your problems by running to give the West a hug”, Liliya Shevtsova, an analyst with the Carnegie Centre in Moscow, said.
At the start of the war, Mr Medvedev said it was his constitutional right to defend the “lives and dignity” of Russian citizens, and Georgia’s allies fear that Russia will now begin to throw its weight around in defence of the millions of ethnic Russians who live outside Russia.
The break-up of the Soviet Union left a huge Russian diaspora outside the country. There are more than 8 million ethnic Russians in Ukraine, 4.5 million in Kazakhstan and 1.2 million in the Baltic states.
One man was killed in riots and demonstrations between the Estonian Russian diaspora and police in Tallinn last year after the Estonians moved a Second World War monument that had been erected in the city by the Soviet regime. Russia has complained that ethnic Russians are discriminated against in the Baltic states, an accusation that the EU has supported in some cases.
Ukraine and the Baltic States were quick to support Georgia, but Belarus, which is normally an ardent supporter of its only ally in Europe, meekly called for a ceasefire. There are more than one million ethnic Russians in Belarus.
The leaders of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia condemned the actions of Russian forces and travelled to Georgia last week to show solidarity with Tbilisi. The Estonian paper Postimees even published a map explaining the weapons that Russia could use to attack Estonia. Ukraine told Russia that it could not use its Crimea-based Black Sea Fleet in armed conflicts without permission, after Russia’s deployment of warships near Georgia.
READ MORE -- http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article4557369.ece