By IRNA,
London : British Foreign Secretary David Miliband is in Ukraine Wednesday to build what he called ‘the widest possible coalition against Russian aggression in Georgia’.
His trip comes after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev formally recognized the independence of Georgia’s regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which Miliband warned was ‘unjustifiable’ and would ‘further inflame an already tense situation’.
“It will also not work. It is contrary to the principles of the peace agreement, which Russia recently agreed, and to recent Russian statements. It takes no account of the views of the hundreds of thousands of Georgians and others,” he said.
The foreign secretary called again on Russia to abide by international law as the basis for resolving this crisis and said Britain ‘fully supports Georgia’s independence and territorial integrity, which cannot be changed by decree from Moscow’.
He said that he would be holding talks with international partners and his visit to Ukraine was ‘to ensure the widest possible coalition against Russian aggression in Georgia’.
The crisis began after Russia intervened to launch a counter- attack to evict Georgian troops from both the autonomous regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which have a combined population of less than 350,000.
At an emergency meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels last week, Miliband said he was continuing to press for Georgia as well as Ukraine to join the transatlantic military alliance, despite many analysts suggesting it was the root cause of the conflict.