Australian PM says relations with Russia at turning point
18/9/2008 18:00
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said today the relations between the
West and the Russian federation was at a turning point.
Rudd said Russian
intervention in Georgia was now a very complex situation and the international
community's response to it was a very difficult challenge.
But he still
refused to rule out sales of Australian uranium to Russia. "If you look back
over the last 20 years or so, what has happened in the last couple of months or
so in relations to the West's engagement with the Russian federation, I fear
that we are at one of these turning points," he told reporters.
"It is very
important, very important indeed, that all governments are fully seized on where
all this goes long term," he said.
The situation of the Russian federation
was now very complex as a result of Russian intervention in Georgia in support
of breakaway southern Ossetia, he added.
"That is why this government in
Australia will spend a lot of time working our way through the question (of
uranium sales) together with others on the West's long-term engagement with
Russia," Rudd said.
Xinhua
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