Caucasus

There can be no return to “business as usual” for as long as Russia acts as an occupying power in Georgia and refuses an internationally brokered solution to the conflict. The upcoming EU emergency summit must send a clear signal to this effect.

Only if Georgia succeeds in building a dynamic and attractive democracy, the populations of Abkhazia and South Ossetia will have a real choice – between a democratic Georgia and an authoritarian Russia.

The EU should readjust its relations with Russia. In this it must bear in mind that Moscow no longer rules out military confrontations as a means of pursuing its interests. Accordingly the EU has to more clearly define its external policies. Should a country like Georgia, which has strategic importance for the West, be left to a Russian sphere of influence?

The international community has to put pressure on Russian, the Georgian and South Ossetian parties to de-escalate the situation as soon as possible. Only this could avoid the recurrence of the bloody events of early 1990s in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.