PARIS: He’s not known for his diplomatic graces, but blunt-talking French President Nicolas Sarkozy looks like Europe’s best bet for making peace between Russia and Georgia.
Paris, unlike Washington, can claim to be an impartial mediator, and Sarkozy is bolstered by his current role as the chief of the 27-nation European Union (EU), Russia’s biggest trading partner.
But a cease-fire deal that Sarkozy crafted is spluttering.
His diplomatic blitz to Moscow and Tbilisi today may be his last chance to save it — and his credibility as a peacemaker.
Officially, Sarkozy, who will be joined by the European Commission president and the EU’s foreign policy chief, is charged with ensuring that the terms of the accord are being honored.
Even for the most seasoned diplomat, that is no small feat. Russian forces have been digging in their heels, President Dmitry Medvedev has given no sign of backing down, and the historical and legal backdrop is complex.
Sarkozy made his reputation as a result-oriented, energetic and tough-talking interior minister, qualities in contrast with the stuffy, eloquent and high-minded French diplomats of yesteryear. At times Sarkozy’s abrupt, unstatesmanlike style has overshadowed his message.
Several analysts said the primary goal of Sarkozy’s mission today needs to be cooling tensions between Russia and Georgia, which are not as quantifiable as the hard results that he typically seeks.
Sarkozy will be carrying an EU mandate: Bloc leaders who met at an emergency summit on the crisis Sept. 1 scolded Moscow, insisting it was not holding up its side of the deal because Russian forces remain inside Georgia. Russia calls them peacekeepers and says they are allowed under the accord. Sarkozy’s priority No. 1 is to get Moscow to pull out hundreds of forces that crossed over from the breakaway zones of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and have taken positions deeper in Georgia, French diplomatic officials say.
Meanwhile, Georgia’s president vowed yesterday to regain control of two breakaway provinces with the help of “the rest of the world.” Despite the presence of Russian troops on Georgian soil, President Mikheil Saakashvili said the West would help his country regain control of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the separatist regions of Georgia recognized as independent nations by Moscow last month.
“Our territorial integrity will be restored,” Saakashvili said in a televised appearance. “This will not be an easy process, but now this is a process between an irate Russia and the rest of the world. Our goal is the return of our territory and the peaceful unification of Georgia.”
