Secretary Clinton's Visit in Moscow (October 13-14)
Remarks on Georgia
SECRETARY
CLINTON'S INTERVIEW WITH EKHO MOSKVY RADIO
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2009a/10/130546.htm
[Excerpt on Georgia]
QUESTION: (In Russian: я спрошу вас прямо: могут ли элементы
ПРО быть расположены на территории Грузии, по которой у нас с вами
расхождения?)
SECRETARY
CLINTON: Yes, and I have no reason to believe at all that anything would be
deployed in Georgia. No, I have no reason to believe that, and that is, I know,
a matter of great concern to the Russian Federation. But again, that’s why we
would like to work with – we would like to eliminate the concerns. We would
like to have a joint missile defense program to protect our people, your
people, our European friends and allies, to put as broad a missile defense
system so that we can guard against short and medium-range missile that might
have nuclear weapons.
QUESTION: (In Russian: Госпожа госсекретарь, поднимался ли
господином Лавровым вопрос о перевооружении грузинской армии со стороны вашей
страны и что вы ему ответили?)
SECRETARY
CLINTON: We talked about Georgia. Now we do have a difference there, and even
though we are working hard to not just reset our relationship, but deepen our
relationship, we will disagree about Georgia. Georgia is providing troops in
Afghanistan. We are training Georgians to be able to go to Afghanistan. But
we’re also making it very clear that we expect both the Georgians and the South
Ossetians and the Abkhazians and everyone else to avoid provocative action, to
deal with whatever problems they have through peaceful and diplomatic means.
QUESTION: (In Russian: Но перевооружение и помощь грузинской
армии, госпожа госсекретарь, то, что очень волнует Россию.)
SECRETARY
CLINTON: Minister Lavrov did not ask me that question, but we will help the
Georgian people to feel like they can defend themselves.
QUESTION: (In Russian: Министр Лавров, значит, вел себя как
джентльмен. Обычно он задает такие вопросы. С вами он вел себя как джентльмен.)
SECRETARY
CLINTON: Well, I think he knew the answer. (Laughter.)
[end of
excerpt]
http://www.echo.msk.ru/programs/beseda/626471-echo/
SECRETARY
CLINTON'S REMARKS AT TOWN HALL MEETING AT MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2009a/10/130567.htm
[excerpt on Georgia]
QUESTION:
(Inaudible) Madame Secretary of State (inaudible) and also for the rousing and
thought-provoking speech you gave. And I would like to ask the question
regarding the issues we still have (inaudible) despite the general improvement
of our relations, and more precisely, the Georgia case. What ways of resolving
this conflict would you propose? Thank you.
SECRETARY
CLINTON: I’m glad you asked that because this is an area where we have a
disagreement. And we have been very candid in expressing our concerns and
listening to the Russian concerns. I think that it’s very important that
neither the Georgians nor the South Ossetians nor the Abkhazians do anything
provocative. And we have told that to the Georgians, and I am confident that
the Russian Government has told that to the people of South Ossetia and
Abkhazia.
It is a very
difficult set of relationships at work in Georgia. But the first and most
important goal must be to make sure there’s no more conflict. If there are
problems to be resolved, they should be put within the diplomatic political
arena and to avoid any further military action whatsoever. Therefore, we
believe that it’s important to have a constant presence of observers and
peacekeepers so that there is no basis or no room for something that would lead
to further bloodshed to occur. In my meetings with Minister Lavrov, we have
discussed how we can perhaps go back to the drawing boards to create a
status-neutral approach to create that kind of buffer zone, that kind of
observer position through Geneva, through the UN, through the OSCE.
But this is
an issue that we see differently, and I think it’s important that we talk
through this. When I became Secretary of State, the relationship between NATO
and Russia had been broken off. The NATO-Russia Council had stopped meeting
because of the very strong feelings that many people had about what happened in
Georgia. And my position was you may disagree with – about what happened in
Georgia, but we shouldn’t stop talking. We have to keep talking. So we have
reinstated the NATO-Russia Council so that we can have a forum so that the
United States and Russia will constantly be in communication when something
happens that could be a serious challenge to our relationship. So this is
something we’re going to have to keep watching and working on. And I hope that
we are able to keep it calm and keep everybody focused on the future and figure
out how we can try to come to some resolution of what is a very difficult set
of circumstances.
But in
general, I think that on most issues we are working well together. Just last
week in Zurich, Minister Lavrov and I worked to help ensure that Turkey and
Armenia signed a protocol to normalize their relationships, and that was a very
significant level of cooperation. Now, we’re working to try to help resolve the
dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
So where we
have a disagreement, as we do over Georgia, it should not end everything. We
should work together. We should try to see where we could end up, working
through that disagreement while we continue to try to solve other problems. And
that’s my approach to it, and I think that’s the kind of new attitude that
we’re bringing to our relationship. (Applause.)
[end of
excerpt]
REMARKS WITH
RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SERGEY LAVROV
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2009a/10/130505.htm
[excerpt on
Georgia]
SECRETARY
CLINTON: … Now, we will continue to have disagreements. And I think it’s very
important for both the American media and the Russian media to understand that
we are different countries. We have different historical experiences, different
perspectives. But we are planting those disagreements in a much broader field
of cooperation, and hopefully, we are enriching the earth in which this
cooperation can take root. We will not see eye-to-eye on Georgia, for example.
We just have a difference of opinion. We have made it clear that we will not
recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia. But we are going to continue to work in
every other area where we do agree.
[end of
excerpt]
REMARKS ON
SECRETARY CLINTON'S MEETINGS WITH FOREIGN MINISTER LAVROV
Background
Briefing by a Senior State Department Official
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2009/oct/130563.htm
[excerpt on
Georgia]
SENIOR STATE
DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: The Secretary highlighted the NATO-Russia Council as an
important forum for cooperation on Afghanistan, counterterrorism, counternarcotics,
counter-piracy, and theater missile defense. She said it was also an important
forum for political issues where we don’t always agree and cited Georgia as an
example of that.
[end of
excerpt]
REMARKS
BEFORE MEETING WITH RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SERGEY LAVROV
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2009a/10/130506.htm
REMARKS AT
RECEPTION FOR CIVIL SOCIETY LEADERS
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2009a/10/130516.htm
BACKGROUND
BRIEFING BY SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL (EN ROUTE MOSCOW)
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2009/oct/130523.htm
[excerpt on
Georgia]
SENIOR STATE
DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: Well, I would put a number of things in the positive
category. The progress on START, I think both sides have committed to success.
Afghan legal transit. We’ve restarted a military-to-military relationship under
(inaudible). The Bilateral Presidential Commission up and running in all of
these different areas. These are some of the ways in which the reset, if you
want to call it that, is moving forward. But as we said at the time – as the
President said at the time, we never thought that that would mean that
differences would go away. And we still have differences on Georgia. We still
have differences on NATO. We still have differences even on some of the areas
that we are working together on, including Iran. And that’s cause for further
discussion. But the hope is that we can have frank discussions of these areas
of common interest and a better – and a better and more trustful spirit then
maybe at times in the past.
[end of
excerpt]