Recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia not precedent for Karabakh, Moscow says

PanARMENIAN.Net - The recognition by Russia of Georgia's Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states does not set a precedent for other post-Soviet breakaway regions, the foreign minister said on Thursday.



Sergei Lavrov said that unlike Georgia, other ex-Soviet states involved in territorial disputes do not plan to use military force to resolve them. "There can be no parallels here," he said.



Moscow said its counterattack following Georgia's offensive to retake South Ossetia in early August and the subsequent recognition of the two breakaway regions' independence were its moral duty and necessary to protect them from possible new acts of aggression. The majority of Western states have sided with Tbilisi in the dispute, and strongly criticized Russia.



"Russia will actively promote a peaceful solution to all the conflicts in the CIS [Commonwealth of Independent States] in line with international law and UN Charter principles," he said. "We will pursue our mediation in peace talks, including over Transnistria and Nagorno Karabakh."



"None of the sides engaged in the Nagorno Karabakh and Transnistria talks have nurtured plans to violate international law, existing agreements, the settlement format and to bomb civilians and peacekeepers," Lavrov said, RIA Novosti reports.