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Medvedev: �Russia is a nation to be reckoned with�

Written by MIKE ECKEL

Sunday, 07 September 2008

MOSCOW — President Dmitry Medvedev said today that “Russia is a nation to be reckoned with” following its war with Georgia, again putting the West on notice that Moscow is prepared to use it military and economic might.

At a meeting of the State Council, a government consultative body of largely regional governors, Medvedev said the world had changed since the beginning of fighting in Georgia last month.

“We have reached a moment of truth. It became a different world after Aug. 8,” he said.

“Russia will never allow anyone to infringe upon the lives and dignity of its citizens. Russia is a nation to be reckoned with from now on.”

Medvedev criticized the United States and other Western nations, though not by name, for challenging Russia’s intervention.

“Millions of people supported us, but we’ve heard no words of support and understanding from those who in the same circumstances pontificate about free elections and national dignity and the need to use force to punish an aggressor,” he said.

The United States has lambasted Moscow for what it called a disproportionate military response and has provided humanitarian and economic aid to Georgia.

U.S. warships have delivered much of the aid, and Russian officials have questioned whether the aid is a cover for weapons shipments.

At Georgia’s Black Sea port of Poti, Russian forces watched today as the U.S. naval ship USS Mt. Whitney delivered 17 tons of aid for Georgians displaced by the fighting.

U.S. naval officers said a Russian warship had trailed the Mount Whitney — the flagship of the U.S. Navy’s Mediterranean fleet — across the Black Sea. Russian forces onshore were also scrutinizing the ship from a position 3 miles away from its anchorage off Poti.

Capt. John Moore, commander of the task force that has brought some 450 tons of aid to Georgia on three U.S. ships and numerous planes, said the Russian frigate Ladnyy had trailed the Whitney about 4,000 yards away for the entire Black Sea trip. The Russian boat remained in international waters after the U.S. ship crossed Friday into Georgian waters 12 miles from Poti, he said.

In the weeks since Russian forces routed the Georgian army and seized the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia, Russian officials have used bellicose language toward the West. Putin has suggested the United States was to blame for the war for helping the Georgian military rebuild.

EU position: In France, the European Union’s 27 foreign ministers were reluctant to provoke Moscow, with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner saying the EU didn’t plan to impose sanctions against Russia.

“Russia must remain a partner, it’s our neighbor, it’s a large country and there is no question to go back to a Cold War situation, that would be a big mistake,” Kouchner said.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy was heading to Russia on Monday to meet with Medvedev.

Cheney critical: U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, at an economic meeting today in Italy, blasted Russian actions in the war with Georgia as an “affront to civilized standards” and said Moscow has given “no satisfactory justification” for invading.

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