By DPA,
Paris : As the European Union (EU) prepared to hold an emergency summit on the Caucasus crisis Monday, Georgia’s envoy to France called for Russia to be given a “last chance” before any possible sanctions.
“We are realistic,” Mamuka Kudava told the daily Le Parisien. “One has to give the Russians a last chance, so that they are obligated to take heed of the six-point agreement decided with (EU council president Nicolas) Sarkozy Aug 12.”
The agreement calls for a ceasefire, Russian troop withdrawal and international talks over the security of Georgia’s breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Georgia is thankful to French President Sarkozy, said Kudava.
“The Russian tanks were already 30 kilometres from our capital,” the diplomat said, adding that the EU must now remain committed that there would be no more victims of Russia in Europe.
As a possible punishment for Russia, Kudava called for a freezing of the EU-Russia partnership before the EU-Russia summit in November as well as a freezing of the bank accounts of Russian firms and businessmen who have profited from ethnic cleansing in South Ossetia and Abkhazia.