Vladimir Putin snubs critics of Russia's policy in the Caucasus
Yesterday in Sochi, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin cut short with a witty and graphic rebuke renewed Western attempts to depict Russia as an aggressor.
He said at the Valdai International Discussion Club that the conflict in the Caucasus was also conditioned by Europe's lack of a clear-cut foreign policy stance.
On the other hand, the Valdai conference took place amid many controversial statements concerning South Ossetia's possible accession to Russia, an indication that the Kremlin's own position needs some fine-tuning.
One of the key tasks for the Russian Prime Minister at the Valdai conference, a meeting of experts and journalists from different countries who shape the international community's opinion of Russia, was to break through the dense wall of anti-Russian propaganda. He was not surprised by a question about why Russian forces attacked Georgia, which came from a foreign participant. "I am surprised, however," he said, "at how powerful the Western propaganda machine is. This is amazing, just astounding. It shouldn't wash, but it does somehow."
His response became an instant hit, but was shortly dimmed by more vivid and graphic statements, which became even more quotable.
"We had to retaliate. What did you expect us to do, to wipe our bleeding nose and bow our head down? Do you want us to simply comply with complete destabilization in the North Caucasus and in Russia?"
He said about Russia's allegedly disproportionate use of force in the conflict in South Ossetia: "Did you expect us to fight with slingshots? What would you call a proportionate use of force then? Those who initiated this provocation should have expected this. They should have known we'd punch 'em in the nose."
According to Putin, he personally thought that the conflict in the Caucasus was also conditioned by Europe's lack of a clear-cut foreign policy stance. When asked about energy security, he said nations "in a global world should help each other rather than impede each other."
His message became clearer after his answer to a question on the projected Nord Stream pipeline's future: "Just stop the bickering and let us get on with the pipeline!"
However, the effect of his criticism of Europe for its lack of an independent stance was somewhat spoiled by several controversial statements about South Ossetia's possible accession to Russia.
Several Russian news agencies quoted South Ossetia's President Eduard Kokoity as saying that Ossetia would "become part of the Russian Federation" and was not planning to continue as an independent state.
Kokoity was one of the participants in the Valdai conference. According to the sources, he said that unification with North Ossetia was the only chance for the Ossetian people to preserve their ethnicity, and that the West would have recognized them earlier even than Kosovo if North Ossetia had agreed to leave Russia to unite with South Ossetia.
Unlike Abkhazia, South Ossetia lacks the necessary economic and geographic resources to support real independence. Politicians and analysts unanimously agreed that South Ossetia's voluntary accession to Russia after liberation was only a matter of time, so Kokoity's first statement did not surprise anyone. Still, multiple denials followed after a few short hours.
The first disavowal came from Kokoity himself. "I didn't mean accession to Russia, my statement was misinterpreted," he told the Rosbalt agency. "We'll be building very close relations with Russia, but as a separate state. We see our relations as similar to those between Russia and Belarus in a Union State."
His envoy to Russia, Dmitry Medoyev, confirmed that position later, and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made a brilliant last stroke another half-hour later.
"I don't know where you get this information. South Ossetia is not going to join anything," he told the intrigued journalists.
Lavrov's statement was made in Warsaw, at a news conference following his missile-defence talks with Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski. This partly explained the embarrassing confusion at the Valdai conference.
Eduard Kokoity, as a President of an independent state, has every right to voice his people's desire to accede to Russia. But, given the Kosovo precedent, where a breakaway region was recognized by the West as an independent state but not annexed, Kokoity's statement could have complicated Russia's missile-defence talks, said Alla Yazkova, Director of the Europe Institute's Mediterranean and Black Sea Region Centre.
Dr Yazkova believes Moscow is backtracking a bit on its policy of confrontation with the West now that the EU has dropped its sanctions plan.