Foreign Office firm as ceasefire crumbles
The Foreign Office is putting all its efforts into maintaining the Russian-Georgian ceasefire, despite reports of Russian tank movements towards Poti, a port close to where US humanitarian ships are set to dock.
“The first task is to make the ceasefire stick and to communicate with the Russians,” a Foreign Office spokesman told politics.co.uk.
“Whenever you have a situation like this the first thing is to make the ceasefire stick. We’re very strongly encouraging the Russians to do that.”
The spokesman stressed the Foreign Office was “consistently” communicating to the Russians “that we oppose any further military activity within Georgia”.
Asked how the Foreign Office would react if Russian troop movements in the country did not die down, a Foreign Office source said: “We would take that very seriously and raise it at the highest levels of the Russian government.”
But the givernment is still considering that scenario hypothetical.
“You can’t comment on the basis of pictures on TV, you can’t base policy on wire reports,” he said.
“We’re getting reports from OSCE monitors and diplomatic staff, and obviously from our various allies there.”
The government has dispatched a Department for International development (Difid) team to the region to establish what level of humanitarian aid may be needed. A request from the Red Cross for aid was accepted, with £500,000 donated so far.
A meeting of Nato foreign minister had been arranged for next Tuesday, which Mr Miliband will be attending.
The Foreign Office seems to be adopting a less shrill line than Washington, where president Bush’s speech yesterday was interpreted as a major escalation in the war of words between the US and Russia.
