Russia yesterday refused to withdraw its remaining forces and military equipment from the former Soviet republics of Georgia and Moldova, repudiating a 4-year-old pledge to do so by the end of this year
Published:
11 January 2004 y., Sunday
Russia yesterday refused to withdraw its remaining forces and military equipment from the former Soviet republics of Georgia and Moldova, repudiating a 4-year-old pledge to do so by the end of this year.
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, attending the annual ministerial meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), expressed "regret" that the 55-member group had failed to reach consensus on the issue because of Moscow's objection.
"I had hoped today to welcome Russia's fulfillment of its 1999 Istanbul commitments to completely withdraw its forces from Moldova. It appears that Russia will not meet the already-extended Dec. 31 deadline," Mr. Powell said.
Moscow's promise originally was made at the 1999 OSCE meeting in the Turkish city. The deadline subsequently was extended by one year.
"I also urge Russia and Georgia to resolve the remaining issues relating to the Russian military presence in Georgia," Mr. Powell said.
Šaltinis:
washtimes.com
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.
The most popular articles
The whale shark is the largest living fish species and is usually found in tropical and warm oceans. This gentle giant is not dangerous to humans but demand for its internal organs is putting it in grave danger.
more »
Land shortages in China and environmental concerns have inspired innovative alternatives at the Asia Funeral Expo in Hong Kong.
more »
Britain's Queen Elizabeth delivers landmark speech of reconciliation during visit to Ireland but stops short of apology.
more »
French climber Alain Robert, known as "Spiderman" scales Turkey's tallest building.
more »
The growth of a tree takes place so slowly that, in real time, it's impossible to observe. Six years ago plant-lover and British film-maker Neil Bromhall decided to speed up the process with time-lapse photography...
more »
Chinese artist Wang Jiang makes portraits of famous faces including U.S. President Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden from nothing but paper torn by hand.
more »
Residents of the southern Spanish town of Lorca stay in makeshift camps and shelters after an earthquake hits the town, destroying buildings and killing at least eight.
more »
The latest technological development in robots is the main focus of the Shanghai International Conference on Robotics and Automation in China.
more »
A rare earthquake rocked Lorca, an ancient town in southeastern Spain, on Wednesday causing houses to collapse, damaging historic churches and public buildings and killing at least 10 people.
more »
A small factory in New York's Brooklyn is doing its best to keep the dying art of making vinyl records.
more »