Leaders of the members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization
(CSTO) condemned Georgia over its actions in South Ossetia and backed Moscow's
role in the recent conflict, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said yesterday.
"Our partners in the organization have made an unequivocally negative
assessment of Georgia's actions, Georgia's aggression in South Ossetia, and
supported Russia's active role, highlighting the need to ensure lasting security
in South Ossetia and Abkhazia," Medvedev said at a press conference after the
CSTO summit in Moscow.
The CSTO member states "are deeply concerned by Georgia's attempt to resolve
the conflict in South Ossetia through the use of force," which led to "numerous
casualties among noncombatants and peacekeepers," he was quoted by the RIA
Novosti news agency assaying.
On the recognition of independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the Russian
president said the CSTO countries will make their own decisions in line with the
basis of international law, but they will also be guided by national interests.
Georgia sent in troops to reclaim its breakaway region of South Ossetia on
Aug. 8, triggering a military counter-offensive by Russia. The conflict ended
with a ceasefire agreement between Tbilisi and Moscow brokered by France.
Russia's recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the other breakaway
region of Georgia, as independent states last week further strained its
relations with the former Soviet republic.
The CSTO is a security grouping comprising Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. The next CSTO summit will be held
in Moscow in the second quarter of 2009.